ZEMITM 


THE  BABYLONIAN   UNIVERSE 

See  Appendix 

The  upright  central  line  is  the  axis  of  the  heavens  and  earth.  The  two  seven-staged  pyramids 
represent  the  earth,  the  upper  being  the  abode  of  living  men,  the  under  one  the  abode  of  the  dead. 
The  separating  waters  are  the  four  seas.  The  seven  inner  homocentric  globes  are  respectively  the 
domams  and  special  abodes  of  Sin,  Shamash,  Nabu,  Ishtar,  Nergal,  Marduk,  and  Ninib,  each  being  a 
"world-ruler"  in  his  own  planetary  sphere.  The  outermost  of  the  spheres,  that  of  Anu  and  Ea,  is  the 
heaven  of  the  fixed  stars.  The  axis  from  center  to  zenith  marks  "the  Way  of  Anu";  the  axis  from 
center  to  nadir  "the  Way  of  Ea." — See  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  October,  1908,  pp: 
977ff.  Also  "The  Earliest  Cosmologies,"  by  W.   F.   Warren,  pp.  33-40. 


APR    2  191i 


The  Religions  of  the  World  ^^"^^'^^'"^ 
and  the  World-Religion 


AN  OUTLINE  FOR  PERSONAL  AND  CLASS  USE 


BY  ^ 

WILLIAM  FAIRFIELD  WARREN 

DUNN    PROFESSOR    IN    BOSTON  UNIVERSITY 


NEW    YORK:    EATON    &    MAINS 
CINCINNATI  :  JENNINGS  &  GRAHAM 


Copyright,    191 1,   by 
EATON   &  MAINS 


RESPECTFULLY    DEDICATED 

TO     MY 

BELOVED     FORMER    PUPILS 

NOW    LABORING 

ON     EVERY    CONTINENT 

TO    TRANSFIGURE 

THE    RELIGIONS    OF    THE    WORLD 

INTO    THE 

ONE    PERFECTED    AND    ALL-REGNANT 
WORLD-RELIGION 


CONTENTS 

Page 

Frontispiece ii 

Dedication v 

Preface ix 

GENERAL  INTRODUCTION 

Chapter  Page 

I.    Subject-Matter  of  the  Study i 

II.    Admissibility  of  the  Scientific  Method 4 

III.  Procedures  and  Resulting  Groups  of  Sciences g 

IV.  Sources,  Proximate  and  Remote 12 

V.    Personal  Equipment 14 

VI.    Auxiliary  Sciences 15 

VII.    Attractiveness,  Utility,  and  Perils  of  the  Study 16 

BOOK  FIRST 
The  Religious  Phenomena  of  the  World  Historically  Considered 

Introduction 23 

Division  First 

History  of  Particular  Religions  and  of  their  Subordinate  Forms.        27 

Division  Second 

History  of  Religious  Manifestations  common  to  several  Reli- 
gions; culminating  in  Comparative  Histories  of  related  Re- 
ligions         40 

Division  Third 

History  of  Religious  Manifestations  common  to  all  Religions; 
culminating  in  a  History  of  Religion  Universally  Considered.  .        42 

BOOK  SECOND 

The  Religious  Phenomena  of  the  World  Systematically  Considered 

Introduction 47 

Division  First 

Systematic  Exposition  of  Particular  Religions  and  of  their  Sub- 
ordinate Forms 49 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS 

Division  Second  Page 

Systematic  Exposition  of  Religious  Manifestations  common  to 
several  Religions;  culminating  in  Comparative  Theologies  of 
related  Religions 51 

Division  Third 

Systematic  Exposition  of  Religious  Manifestations  common  to 
all  Religions;  culminating  in  a  Science  of  Religion  Universally 
Considered S3 

BOOK  THIRD 

The  Religious  Phenomena  of  the  World  Philosophically  Considered 

Introduction 57 

Division  First 

Human  Personality  in  its  Relation  to  the  Divine 59 

Division  Second 

The  Divine  Personality  in  its  Relation  to  the  Human 62 

Division  Third 

The  Past,  Present,  and  Future  Interrelations  of  God  and  Man. 
Part  First:  As  seen  in  the  Ideal;  Part  Second:  As  given  in 
Christian  Consciousness;  Part  Third:  As  determined  and  ever 
redetermined  in  the  total  historic  life  of  the  World-Religion.  .        65 

APPENDIX 

I.    The  Nature  and  Naturalness  of  Religion 79 

II.    A  Quest  of  the  Perfect  Religion 88 

III.    Ancient  Conceptions  of  the  Universe 102 

Blanks  for  Fortnightly  Reports   {next  to  the  Cover) 


PREFACE 

In  view  of  the  unmanageable  mass  of  material  to  be  dealt 
with,  every  teacher  whose  task  it  is  to  present  the  nature  and 
the  chief  historic  forms  of  religion,  has  felt  the  need  of  printed 
helps  which,  without  hampering  him  in  the  free  shaping  of  his 
own  lectures  or  lecture  courses,  will  prove  time-saving  and  help- 
ful when  placed  in  the  hands  of  his  students.  It  is  hoped  and 
believed  that  the  present  volume  will  be  found  such  a  help. 

In  any  case,  it  is  the  fruit  of  long  experience.  In  the  year 
1873,  in  Boston  University,  was  established  the  first  chair  ever 
instituted  in  an  American  university  for  instruction  in  religions 
and  religion  in  the  widest  possible  sense.  At  the  outset  its  occu- 
pant saw  that,  whatever  the  scope,  and  whatever  the  method  of 
the  work  about  to  be  attempted,  the  student  would  need  for  his 
orientation,  first  of  all,  a  general  introduction  to  the  total  field. 
It  was  also  plain  that,  without  waiting  to  complete  this  prelimi- 
nary survey,  the  teacher  could  profitably  start  the  student  on 
helpful  courses  of  reading,  and  even  on  independent  investiga- 
tions of  historic  questions  in  many  fields.  Moreover,-  as  the 
experiment  went  on,  it  was  quickly  seen  that,  with  classes  often 
exceeding  fifty  in  number,  it  was  desirable  to  conduct  the  stu- 
dents along  several  lines  of  research  at  once ;  for  the  reason 
that  no  library  could  be  expected  to  provide  the  referred-to 
books  in  such  numbers  that  half  a  hundred  men  could  simul- 
taneously work  on  the  same  questions.  In  a  short  time  a  group 
of  annually  modified  courses  grew  up,  some  of  them  adapted 
for  use  in  alternate  years,  yet  all  so  elastic  that  in  every  field  of 
importance    the    latest    discoveries    and    the    latest    discussions 


X  PREFACE 

could  each  season  receive  appropriate  attention.  It  is  hardly 
possible  to  show  the  nature,  and  methods,  and  interrelations  of 
these  courses  more  briefly  than  in  the  following  announcement 
of  the  work  of  the  chair  as  given  several  years  past  in  the  Year 
Book  of  the  University : 

The  following  courses  are  integral  parts  of  one  comprehensive  scheme 
of  instruction  extending  through  the  year.  The  first  occupies  some  eight 
weeks  of  the  autumn,  the  second  and  third  extend  through  the  winter,  the 
fourth  to  the  end  of  the  year.  The  work  follows  an  unpublished  printed 
outHne,  which  is  supplemented  by  lectures,  discussions,  assigned  readings, 
reports,  and  class  essays. 

1.  General    Introduction    to    the    Scientific    Study    of    the    Religious    Phe- 

nomena of  the  World. 

This  course  treats  of  the  subject-matter  of  the  study  in  general;  the 
question  of  the  admissibility  of  the  scientific  method  in  this  field ;  the 
three  distinct  procedures  and  the  thence  resulting  groups  of  sciences; 
the  sources,  proximate  and  remote;  the  personal  equipment  required; 
the  chief  auxiliary  sciences ;  the  attractiveness,  utility,  and  perils  of  the 
study. 

2.  The  Religious  Phenomena  of  the  World  Historically  Considered.     His- 

tory of  Religions  and  of  Religion. 

In  this  course  the  aim  is  to  make  the  student  acquainted  with  the  best 
methods  and  means  for  thorough  study  of  the  history  of  the  important 
particular  religions,  the  history  of  features  or  movements  common  to  a 
class  of  religions,  and,  finally,  the  history  of  matters  common  to  all  re- 
ligions, or  the  history  of  religion  universally  considered. 

3.  The    Religious    Phenomena    of    the    World    Systematically    Considered. 

Descriptive  Exposition  of  Religions  and  of  Religion. 

Here  the  aim  is  to  acquaint  the  student  with  the  best  means  and  meth- 
ods for  ascertaining  and  descriptively  setting  forth  in  logical  connection 
the  facts  presented  by  any  particular  religion,  or  by  the  features  or  move- 
ments that  may  be  common  to  any  class  of  religions,  or  by  the  total  pres- 
ent state  of  religion  universally  considered. 


PREFACE  xi 

4.  The  Philosophy  of  Religion.  The  Religious  Phenomena  of  the  World 
Philosophically  Considered. 

An  introduction  treats  of  the  aim  and  possibility  of  a  philosophy  of 
religion ;  the  relation  of  the  philosophy  of  religion  to  other  branches  of 
philosophy;  its  relation  to  the  history  and  to  the  systematic  exposition 
of  religions;  the  history,  literature,  and  present  state  of  the  philosophy  of 
religion;  the  different  fundamental  standpoints  and  postulates  of  different 
philosophies  of  religion ;  and  the  plan  and  method  demanded  by  the  pres- 
ent state  of  religious  knowledge  and  present  currents  of  thought  and  life. 
After  this  follows  in  three  "divisions"  an  outline  of  the  total  field. 

Parallel  to  these  four  courses  runs  a  continuous  study,  at  once  historic, 
systematic,  and  philosophic,  of  the  more  important  religions  of  the  past 
and  present,  such  as  the  Chaldreo-Assyrian,  the  Egyptian,  the  Chinese, 
and  the  chief  of  the  Indo-European.  This  is  conducted  by  means  of 
assigned  questions  upon  recommended  readings,  and  by  essays  prepared 
by  each  student  on  assigned  themes.  The  four  courses  are  thus  vitally 
and  logically  unified,  and  they  can  be  taken  only  in  their  due  sequence 
and  as  one  whole. 

]\Iy  habit  has  been  to  have  the  printed  matter  contained  in 
the  following  pages  bound  up  with  about  fifty  blank  leaves  of 
writing  paper  for  the  use  of  the  student.  The  first  thirty  of 
the  blank  pages  have  been  reserved  for  "Notes  and  Queries 
Illustrative  of  the  Text."  These  notes  and  queries  have  been 
revised  and  varied  every  year,  the  constant  aim  being  to  draw 
attention  to  the  latest  and  best  material.  Then  have  followed, 
under  the  heading,  "Collateral  Reading  and  Study,"  a  printed 
list  of  the  books,  essays,  and  portions  of  books  particularly 
recommended  for  immediate  use ;  also  a  larger  list  of  "Books 
to  be  Consulted,"  and  one  of  "Periodicals  to  be  Consulted." 
The  next  four  pages  have  been  filled  with  more  than  three- 
score of  carefully  formulated  "Specimen  Topics  for  Class 
Papers,"  the  fundamental  purpose  of  which  has  been,  not  to 
provide  themes  for  actual  use  by  the  student,  but  to  illustrate 
the  wealth  of  material  available  and  the  varieties  of  method  pos- 
sible in  the  preparation  of  papers  of  this  kind. 


xii  PREFACE 

Next  have  followed  what  I  have  called  "Specimen  Studies." 
These  have  consisted  partly  of  dictated  expositions,  but  more 
largely  of  dictated  questions  to  be  investigated  and  answered 
by  the  student.  The  space  left  after  each  question  has  indi- 
cated the  fullness  or  brevity  desired  in  the  answer.  The  first 
two  of  these  specimen  studies  have  been  devoted  to  two  specially 
important  historic  forms  of  ethnic  religion,  and  the  method 
pursued  has  been  commended  to  the  student  for  use  in  his  more 
private  study  of  the  other  religions.  One  study  has  been  given 
to  the  religious  statistics  of  the  world,  and  usually  one  to  the 
curious  conceptions  of  the  heavens,  earths,  and  underworlds 
found  in  the  various  systems  of  religious  teaching.  The  philos- 
ophy of  religion  universally  and  comparatively  considered,  in- 
cluding the  psychology  of  religion,  has  furnished  other  themes 
in  embarrassing  abundance. 

The  "Fortnightly  Reports,"  provided  for  and  rendered  con- 
venient by  the  blanks  inserted  at  the  end  of  the  book,  have 
served  an  excellent  purpose  in  keeping  the  instructor  in  close 
touch  with  the  problems  and  the  progress  of  each  student. 
Moreover,  the  reports,  taken  in  connection  with  the  written 
work  in  the  books  of  the  class,  have  afforded  important  aid  in 
determining  at  the  end  of  the  year  the  standing  individually 
earned  by  the  several  class  members. 

To  illustrate  the  variety  of  procedure  and  of  style  which  may 
be  employed  by  a  teacher  using  this  Outline,  I  include  in  an 
Appendix  three  selections  from  material  used  the  past  year,  to 
wit :  an  exposition  of  the  "Nature  and  Naturalness  of  Religion," 
a  lecture  on  "A  Quest  of  the  Perfect  Religion,"  and  a  question- 
naire on  "Ancient  Conceptions  of  the  Universe." 

The  standpoint  of  the  present  work  is  frankly  that  of  Christian 
theism.  The  author  can  conceive  of  none  higher,  deeper,  or 
more  scientific.     This  being  the  case,  it  would  be  an  unworthy 


PREFACE  xiii 

affectation  were  he  to  profess  to  write  without  personal  prepos- 
sessions or  personal  convictions. 

Former  students  have  repeatedly  urged  me  to  prepare  a  more 
comprehensive  work,  one  which  should  embody  the  facts,  prin- 
ciples, inductions,  and  bibliographic  helps  needed  by  the  average 
collegiate  or  theological  student  in  this  important  field.  I  have 
steadily  declined  on  the  ground  that  no  man  could  do  justice  to 
the  ideal  of  such  a  work,  and,  further,  that,  even  if  anyone 
could,  a  very  few  months  would  render  the  bibliographic  por- 
tions of  the  treatise  obsolete,  so  rapid  is  the  progress  in  this 
department  of  study.  The  most  that  has  seemed  to  me  to  be 
attainaWe  at  the  present  time  is  a  comprehensive  outline,  like 
the  one  here  attempted,  one  which  collegiate  and  theological 
professors  charged  with  the  duty  of  giving  instruction  in  Theism, 
or  Comparative  Religion,  or  the  Philosophy  of  Religion,  can 
use  as  a  time-saving  device  in  explaining  to  neophytes  the  genesis 
and  scope  of  the  branch  of  instruction  engaging  their  immediate 
attention,  and  especially  its  proper  place  in  the  one  organism 
which  includes  and  integrates  all  as  yet  defined  and  elaborated 
sciences  relating  to  religion. 

In  closing  this  preface  I  may  mention  one  further  hope  which 
I  have  ventured  to  indulge.  In  connection  with  our  State  univer- 
sities, agricultural  colleges,  professional  and  military  academies, 
and  even  with  the  educational  department  of  many  Young  Men's 
Christian  Associations,  hundreds  of  students  annually  unite  in 
volunteer  classes  and  clubs  for  the  study  of  missionary  and  other 
literature  of  a  religious  character.  Often  embarrassment  is 
experienced  in  finding  for  these  students  a  textbook  adapted 
to  take  them  forward  and  upward  from  the  more  elementary 
and  fragmentary  courses  at  first  pursued,  and  especially  one 
adapted  to  give  them  a  "mountain-top  outlook"  over  all  the  prov- 
inces of  religious  study.  It  will  greatly  gratify  the  present 
writer  if  experiment  shall  prove  that  a  season  spent  upon  this 


xiv  PREFACE 

Outline,  supplemented  by  readings  in  Principal  Grant's  little 
book  on  "The  Religions  of  the  World."  gives  to  classes  of  this 
kind  a  comprehensiveness  of  vision  hitherto  lacking,  and  the 
truer  insight  which  comes  from  breadth  and  accuracy  of  survey. 
The  average  student  volunteer  for  missionary  service  could 
hardly  fail  to  find  in  such  a  course  many  a  needed  correction 
of  inherited  misconceptions  touching  the  non-Christian  world, 
and  touching  its  searchings  after  the  Perfect  Religion. 

^  W.  F.  W. 


GENERAL    INTRODUCTION 


CHAPTER  I 
The  Subject-Matter  of  the  Study 

The  world  is  full  of  phenomena  which  men  call  religious. 
They  are  partly  subjective  and  partly  objective.  They  include 
personal  beliefs,  emotions,  acts ;  social  customs,  institutions,  rites. 
They  are  at  least  as  old  as  recorded  history,  as  universal  as  the 
sense  of  moral  obligation.  Of  all  elements  of  human  experience 
they  are  the  deepest  and  the  highest,  the  most  interesting,  the  most 
sacred.  As  such  they  claim  the  studious  attention  of  all  thought- 
ful persons,  whether  they  hold  to  one  religion,  or  to  another,  or 
to  none. 

To  define  religious  phenomena  more  narrowly  we  must  define 
religion.  This  in  its  highest  sense  is  the  normal  bearing  of  men 
in  and  toward  God,  the  ground  of  all  finite  existence.  In  a  wider 
sense  it  includes  all  actual  or  historic  endeavors  after  such  a 
bearing,  however  far  short  of  the  ideal  they  may  have  come.  It 
is  in  this  wider  sense  that  the  term  must  ordinarily  be  used  in  the 
present  course.  Accordingly,  the  phenomena  of  religion  must  be 
understood  to  include  all  manifestations  of  man's  religious  nature, 
however  high  and  however  low.  Wherever  there  is  an  attempted 
personal  bearing  over  against  what  is  believed  to  be  divine,  there 
some  of  the  phenomena  of  religion  will  be  found. 

Surveying  more  closely  the  religious  phenomena  of  the  world 
as  thus  defined,  we  shall  quickly  discover  that  they  are  not  unre- 
lated and  connectionless,  a  mere  chaos  of  isolated  facts,  unorgan- 
ized and  unorganizable.     On  the  contrary,  they  tend  to  group, 


2  THE  RELIGIOXS  OF  THE  WORLD 

and  do  group  themselves  into  distinct  systems  of  religious  beliei 
and  life.  So  far  as  these  are  systems  of  belief  merely,  they  consti- 
tute what  may  be  called  theoretical  or  speculative  systems ;  so 
far,  on  the  other  hand,  as  they  are  systems  of  tribal,  or  national, 
or  voluntarily  associated  life,  they  may  be  styled  historic  or 
concrete. 

•The  chief  of  the  fonner  or  speculative  class  are  ^lonotheism, 
Dualism.  Polytheism,  Atheism,  and  Pantheism. 

The  chief  of  the  historic  or  concrete  systems  now  existing  in 
the  world  are : 

I.  The  religions  of  the  barbaric  tribes. 
IL  The  religions  of  peoples  that  are  emerging  from  an  obsolete 
civilization ;  such  as  the  Chinese,  Japanese,  Hindus.  Tibetans, 
Burmese,  and  Siamese.  Here  are  found  Confucianism,  Shinto- 
ism,  Hinduism,  and  Buddhism,  the  last  named  in  its  various 
national  and  sectarian  forms. 

HI.  That  rightly  named,  though  as  yet  far  from  perfectly 
actualized,  ^^'orld-Religion,  which,  beginning  with  man's  begin- 
ning, and  unfolding  as  the  world-compassing  divine  purposes  suc- 
cessively unfold,  reaches  its  first  culmination  and  interpretation 
in  the  theanthropic  person,  teachings,  and  world-redeeming  work 
of  Jesus  Christ.  This  is  the  religion  of  the  most  highly  civilized 
peoples  of  the  globe.  ]\Iodern  Judaism  is  simply  the  survival  of 
an  outgrown  form  of  it;  Islamism,  an  abnormal  reversionary 
variation  due  to  inadequate  instruction  and  leadership  at  the  time 
when  the  gospel  first  reached  Arabia. 

The  question.  Whence  all  these  religions,  and  the  successive 
forms  through  which  they  have  passed?  deserves  attention.  The 
problem  is  a  profound  one,  for  the  forces  by  whose  action  and 
interaction  particular  religious  systems  are  produced,  maintained, 
and  perpetually  modified  are  among  the  most  subtile  and  complex 
known  to  human  investigfation. 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGIOX  3 

Five  fundamental  facts,  however,  go  far  toward  explaining 
in  a  general  way  the  origin  and  the  successive  modifications  of 
all  particular  religions. 

First.  Men  universally,  and  it  would  seem  instinctively,  mani- 
fest a  religious  activity  of  some  kind. 

Second.  Under  the  partly  conscious,  partly  unconscious  in- 
fluence of  reason,  this  religious  activity  ever  tends  to  come  into 
some  degree  of  conformity  with  a  strictly  consistent  life-theor\' 
and  world-theon,-  of  some  sort — it  may  be  monotheistic,  dualistic, 
polytheistic,  pantheistic,  or  even  atheistic.  Hence  arise  specula- 
tive or  abstract  religious  systems  corresponding  to  these  various 
conceptions  of  man  and  of  the  universe. 

Third.  Like  other  universal  activities,  the  religious  is  affected 
by  social  influences.  Of  necessity  it  enters  into  the  social  life 
of  bodies  of  men,  constitutes  a  factor  in  the  development  of  that 
life,  conditions  in  great  measure  its  quality,  and  is  in  turn  condi- 
tioned by  it.  Hence  originate  concrete  or  historic  systems  of 
religion,  reflecting  and  in  some  measure  determining  the  genius 
of  a  particular  people  or  of  a  particular  religious  society. 

Fourth.  The  interrelation  between  the  life  and  the  religion  of 
a  man,  or  of  an  aggregate  of  men.  is  so  intricate  and  vital  that 
the  religion  cannot  be  changed  without  changing  the  life ;  nor, 
on  the  other  hand,  can  the  life  be  changed  without  changing  the 
religion.  Hence,  all  profound  changes  in  the  pursuits,  tastes, 
or  states  of  culture  of  a  people  are  preceded,  accompanied,  or  fol- 
lowed by  noteworthy  modifications,  if  not  real  transformations, 
of  religious  belief  and  life. 

Fifth.  The  theistic  world-view  cannot  maintain  itself,  or  even 
complete  itself,  without  postulating  on  the  part  of  the  World- 
Author  and  World-Administrator  a  self-revealing  and  self-com- 
municating activity,  world-wide  and  world-old.  like  that  histor- 
ically exemplified  in  the  World-Religion.  In  the  view  of  every 
true  theist,  therefore,  this  divine  activity  is  the  most  fundamoital 


4  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

and  significauf  factor  in  ci'Cry  religion,  as  manifest  in  the  deca\ 
and  fall  of  systems  as  in  their  rise  and  growth.  Man's  search 
after  God  is  but  the  consequence  of  God's  antecedent  and  inces- 
sant quest  of  man. 

In  concluding  this  prehminary  glance  at  the  subject-matter  of 
our  study,  it  is  well  to  remind  ourselves  of  the  immense  number 
and  variety  of  facts  and  principles  included  therein.  Thev  are 
found  not  in  one  department  of  human  life  merely,  but  in  all. 
Illustrations  of  the  power  and  influence  of  religion  in  the  domestic 
sphere  could  be  drawn  from  the  history  of  every  people.  So.  also, 
from  social  and  civil  life;  from  the  realm  of  education;  from  the 
domain  of  art ;  from  the  field  of  literature ;  and  from  the  great 
world  of  popular  customs.  With  such  matters  volumes  upon 
volumes  could  be  filled.  Traverse  whatever  department  of 
thought  and  action  we  will,  we  encounter  the  manifest  and  multi- 
form phenomena  of  religion.  Whatever  religion  itself  mav  be — 
something  natural  or  supernatural,  a  dream  or  a  reality,  a  lunacy 
or  a  sanity — its  universal  presence  and  power  in  humanity  and  in 
humanity's  history  compel  attention  and  demand  investigation  ac- 
cording to  the  strictest  and  most  thorough  methods  of  scientific 
studv. 


CHAPTER  II 


The   Admissibility   of   the   Scientific   Treatment   of   the 
Religious  Phenomena  of  the  World 

The  practicability  and  propriety  of  investigating  and  setting 
forth  the  religious  phenomena  of  the  world  in  accordance  with 
what  is  called  the  scientific  method  would  at  first  thought  seem 
to  be  as  much  beyond  question  as  the  like  procedure  in  the  case 
of  any  other  phenomena  of  a  mental,  social,  or  ethical  character. 
But  since   the   admissibility  of  the   application   of  the    scientific 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGIOX  5 

method  to  religion  has  been  repeatedly  and  earnestly  challenged, 
and  this  from  very  different  points  of  view,  it  becomes  necessary 
here  at  the  threshold  of  the  study  to  examine  and  test  the  objec- 
tions urged.  But.  first,  what  is  meant  by  the  term,  "the  scien- 
tific method"? 

As  here  used  it  designates  and  includes : 

First.  That  procedure  by  which  the  mind  carefully,  critically, 
and  repeatedlv  observes  a  group  of  phenomena,  and  so  comes  to 
know  their  exact  character  and  normal  order  of  succession. 

Second.  That  procedure  by  which  the  mind  reaches  verifiable 
or  otherwise  rationally  satisfactory  conclusions  touching  the 
cause  or  causes  of  said  phenomena,  the  conditions  under  which, 
and  the  laws  according  to  which,  these  causes  act. 

Third.  That  procedure  by  which  the  mind  reaches  verifiable 
or  otherwise  rationally  satisfactory  conclusions  touchinq;-  the  con- 
nections and  correlations  of  these  phenomena  with  others,  and  of 
their  causes  with  other  causes,  and  the  true  purpose  and  signifi- 
cance of  said  correlations. 

It  has  often  been  said  that  the  scientific  method  has  no  pre- 
suppositions. How  untrue  is  this  declaration  the  most  super- 
ficial glance  at  any  adequate  definition  of  it  suffices  to  show. 
Even  in  the  hands  of  a  materialist  the  scientific  method  rests  upon 
at  least  three  immense  postulates:  iirst.  the  absolute  validity  of 
the  normal  processes  of  human  intelligence :  second,  the  unvary- 
ing constancy  of  natural  law :  third,  the  rationality  of  the  universe 
of  being  and  of  its  workings  as  a  whole.  Deprive  him  of  any  one 
of  these  fundamental  assumptions  and  at  once  any  and  every 
emplovment  of  the  scientific  method  becomes  impossible. 

Such  being  the  nature  and  the  presuppositions  of  this  method 
in  all  its  applications,  it  is  evident  that  objections  to  its  applica- 
tion to  religion  might  antecedently  be  expected  from  several 
parties : 

First.  From  all  those  who  question  the  validity  of  human  knowl- 


6  THE  RELIGIONS  OE  THE  WORLD 

edge  in  general ;  in  otiier  words,  the  skeptical  school  of  philosophy 
properly  so  called  (Pyrrhonists). 

Second.  From  those  who,  admitting  the  validity  of  all  knowl- 
edge acquired. by  sense-perception,  question  or  deny  the  possi- 
bility of  any  valid  knowledge  of  the  supersensuous. 

Third.  From  all  those  who,  admitting  the  possibility  of  a  valid 
knowledge  of  supersensuous  objects  and  realities  in  the  sphere  of 
the  finite — as,  for  example,  in  human  consciousness — question  or 
deny  the  possibility  of  any  valid  knowledge  of  that  unconditional 
presupposition,  ground,  and  unity  demanded  by  the  finite  for  its 
own   explanation. 

To  all  of  the  above  classes  of  objectors  it  is  proper  and  suf- 
ficient to  say  that  their  quarrel  is  with  the  scientific  method  itself, 
or  with  its  first  assumption,  not  with  the  application  of  it  to 
religious  phenomena  as  such. 

But  beyond  the  aboye-mentioned  objectors  stand  two  other 
classes  of  persons  who  question  or  deny  the  admissibility  of  a 
scientific  treatment  of  religion. 

The  first  do  this  on  the  ground  that  in  its  essential  nature 
religion  "transcends  knowledge."  It  is  an  experience  which  in 
strictest  literalness  passeth  all  understanding.  In  its  full  and 
normal  actualization  it  so  fills  and  dominates  the  whole  conscious- 
ness of  its  subject  that  the  observant  and  critical  and  ratiocinative 
activities  of  the  mind  are  necessarily  and  entirely  excluded.  The 
moment  the  soul  attempts  the  scientific  explanation  of  its  religious 
experiences  those  experiences  are  already  of  necessity  at  an  en.d, 
and  there  is  nothing  left  for  observation.  The  most  consistent  and 
thoroughgoing  representatives  of  this  view  maintain  that  the  idea 
of  God  is  innate,  that  in  the  intuitional  faculties  we  possess  an 
organ  for  immediate  and  conscious  fellowship  with  God,  and  that 
the  exercise  of  "reason,  using  this  term  as  a  designation  of  the 
discursive  faculty,  instead  of  helping  us  toward  a  knowledge  of 
God  and  the  true  life  in  him,  only  hinders  and  distracts. 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  7 

The  second  class  hold  that  normal  religion  necessarily  presup- 
poses a  supernatural  communication  of  the  mind  and  will  of  Him 
who  is  the  true  object  of  religious  thought  and  worship;  in  other 
words,  an  authoritative  didactic  revelation  from  God.  They  affirm 
that  no  study  of  the  religious  phenomena  of  the  world,  or  of  the 
phenomena  of  nature,  could  ever  give  us  information  as  to  God's 
nature,  or  character,  or  purposes  concerning  us,  or  as  to  our 
duties  toward  him.  To  supply  this  lack  of  light  he  has  made 
and  duly  authenticated  a  plain  revelation  upon  all  these  subjects; 
and  possessing  this,  every  attempt  on  our  part  to  seek  religious 
knowledge  apart  from  it,  or  to  adjust  its  teachings  to  those  of 
fallible  human  reason,  or  even  to  support  its  doctrines  by  deduc- 
tions from  religions  which  it  disowns  and  condemns,  is  at  once 
an  impertinence  and  a  folly.  To  these  persons  the  only  legitimate 
use  of  reason  in  religion  is  reverently  and  unquestioningly  to 
accept  the  prima  facie  teaching  of  the  authoritative  Didactic 
Revelation. 

To  both  classes  it  might  be  replied  that,  granting  their  respec- 
tive tenets,  or  either  one  of  them,  we  have  already  therein  a 
most  important  and  fundamental  contribution  to  a  philosophy  of 
religion,  and  that  every  philosophy  of  religion  necessarily  pre- 
supposes and  rests  upon  a  scientific  study  of  the  phenomena  of 
religion.  Indeed,  without  such  a  study,  and  a  logical  use  of 
the  results  of  such  a  study,  neither  the  mystic  can  show  the 
transcendence  of  religion  in  its  relation  to  knowledge,  nor  the 
revelationist  the  existence  and  exclusive  claims  of  his  revelation. 
The  characteristic  view  of  each  is,  therefore,  inconsistent  with 
itself  and  self-destructive. 

Again,  to  both  of  these  parties  it  may  be  replied,  that  they  mis- 
apprehend and  misrepresent  the  scientific  method  and  its 
assumptions.  Both  treat  the  question  as  if  in  the  application  of 
this  method  to  the  phenomena  of  religion  there  was  no  place  for 
the  exercise  of  any  faculty  other  than  the  logical  understanding. 


8  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

Especially  does  the  mystic  forget  that  that  transcendent  con- 
sciousness of  divine  communion  which  he  so  exalts  is  itself  a 
mode  of  knowing  as  truly  as  of  feeling,  and,  in  fact,  according 
to  his  own  principles,  the  highest,  most  immediate,  and  perfect 
of  all  modes.  In  like  manner  the  stickler  for  revelation  forgets 
that  no  object  or  being  is  capable  of  being  known  save  as  it 
reveals  or  self-manifests  itself  to  the  cognizing  subject;  so  that 
this  necessity  for  self-manifestation  is  no  more  predicable  of  God 
than  it  is  of  man,  or  of  those  objects  of  which  natural  science 
treats.  Both,  therefore,  misapprehend  or  ignore  one  or  more  of 
the  primary  postulates  of  the  scientific  method  itself. 

Finally,  it  may  be  remarked  that  both  parties  mistake  the  true 
force  and  significance  of  the  very  considerations  which  they  urge 
against  the  application  of  the  scientific  method  to  religious  phe- 
nomena. These  considerations,  instead  of  producing  in  us  a 
despair  of  attaining  true  conceptions  of  religion  and  of  its  psycho- 
logical and  social  laws  and  relations,  ought  only  to  remind  us 
of  the  transcendent  excellence  and  compass  of  that  knowledge 
to  whose  acquisition  we  are  summoned,  and  of  the  encouragement 
we  ought  to  find  in  the  essentially  self-manifestative  character 
of  its  divine  Object.  If  beyond  this  they  remind  us  of  the  dis- 
proportion of  our  present  powers  to  such  high  tasks  as  those 
here  contemplated,  we  may  well  reassure  ourselves  with  the 
thought  that  all  human  science  has  its  bounds  and  limitations, 
and  that  in  the  field  of  religious  investigation,  if  anywhere,  human 
infirmity  may  hope  for  divine  guidance  and  help  toward  the  truth. 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION 


CHAPTER  III 

The  Three  Procedures  and  the  Resulting  Groups  of 

Sciences 

In  the  scientific  treatment  of  the  religious  phenomena  of  the 
world  the  three  essential  modes  of  procedure  are:  first,  the 
Historic ;  second,  the  Systematic ;  and  third,  the  Philosophic. 

Whoever  pursues  the  first  undertakes  to  set  forth  the  genetic 
or  chronological  order  of  these  phenomena  in  the  origin  and 
development  of  particular  religious  systems  and  groups,  or  in 
the  history  of  religion  universally  considered.  Whoever  pursues 
the  second  undertakes  to  set  forth  religious  phenomena  in  their 
logical  relations  as  constituent  elements  of  systems  more  or  less 
inclusive.  Whoever  pursues  the  third  undertakes  from  a  careful 
study  of  the  facts  of  religion  and  of  its  history  to  ascertain  and 
to  set  forth  the  essential  nature  of  religion,  its  origin,  its  psycho- 
logical and  other  presuppositions,  the  laws  of  its  individual  and 
social  development,  its  subjective  and  objective  validity. 

The  man  who  adopts  the  historic  procedure  may  limit  himself 
to  single  religions ;  or  he  may  trace  comparatively  or  otherwise 
the  rise  and  history  of  developments  common  to  a  group  of 
religions ;  or,  finally,  he  may  seek  to  include  the  whole  field.  In 
the  first  case  he  elaborates  histories  of  single  religions;  in  the 
second,  comparative  or  other  histories  of  wider  religious  move- 
ments or  of  peculiarities  of  such  movements;  in  the  third,  a  uni- 
versal history  of  religion. 

In  like  manner  the  man  who  adopts  the  systematic  procedure 
may  undertake  to  deal  with  the  phenomena  presented  by  a  single 
religious  system  ;  or  with  those  pertaining  to  a  class  of  religions ; 
or,  finally,  with  those  which  are  common  to  all.     In  the  first  case 


10  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

he  gives  us  the  phenomenology  of  a  particular  religion  ;  in  the 
second,  that  of  a  chosen  group ;  in  the  third,  that  of  religion  uni- 
versally considered.  This  term  "phenomenology,"  signifying  the 
definition,  classification,  and  scientific  presentation  of  the  data 
found  by  the  investigator  in  any  selected  field,  is  peculiarly  fitted 
for  use  in  this  connection. 

All  sciences,  therefore,  which  relate  to  the  phenomena  of  reli- 
gion may  be  classified  as  follows : 

I.     The  Historic  Group. 

1.  Histories  of  particular  Religions. 

2.  Histories,    comparative    or    other,    of    wider    religioub 

movements,  or  of  special  features  common  to  a  class 
of  religions. 

3.  The  Universal  History  of  Religion,  or  the  History  of 

Religion  universally  considered. 

n.     The  Systematic  Group. 

1.  The  Phenomenology  of  particular  Religions. 

2.  The  Phenomenology  of  a  chosen  group  of   Religions, 

as,  for  example,  the  Indo-Germanic. 

3.  The  Phenomenology  of  Religion  universally  considered. 

HI.     The  Philosophical  Group. 

1.  The  Philosophy  of  the  Object  of  Religion. 

2.  The  PhUosophy  of  the  Subject  of  Religion. 

3.  The  Philosophy  of  the  past,  present,  and  future  Inter- 

relations of  the  Subject  and  Object  of  Religion. 

From  the  foregoing  conspectus,  it  is  evident  that  the  term  "the 
Science  of  Religion"  can  no  longer  be  used  without  great  vague- 
ness and  ambiguity.  Once  investigators  thought  to  construct  a 
"Science  of  Life,"  but  before  they  had  completed  a  preliminary 
survey  of  the  data  they  found  they  had  built  up  the  whole  hier- 
archy of  what  are  now  called  the  biological  sciences,     So  half  a 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  ll 

thousand  years  ago  there  was  a  body  of  systematized  facts  and 
truths  that  might  well  enough  have  been  styled  "the  Science  of 
Christianity"  ;  since  that  time,  however,  the  progress  of  scholar- 
ship has  substituted  for  that  one  unitary  presentation  about  a 
score  of  recognized  theological  sciences,  each  highly  organized 
and  reasonably  comprehensive.  In  like  manner  the  so-called 
Science  of  Religion  is  fast  giving  place,  not  merely  to  a  group  of 
new  religious  sciences,  but  even  to  a  group  made  up  of  sub- 
groups, as  just  shown. 

The  term  "the  Science  of  Religion,"  as  used  since  its  introduction  some 
years  ago,  has  never  been  quite  free  from  ambiguity.  Sometimes  it  has 
sharply  excluded  almost  everything  pertaining  to  the  philosophy  of 
religion,  while  in  other  cases  it  has  been  used  as  wholly  inclusive  of  that 
department  of  the  study.  German  writers  have  done  no  better.  Religions- 
wisscnschaft  (the  Science  of  Religion)  and  Reliiiionsphilosophic  (the 
Philosophy  of  Religion)  have  been  alternately  differentiated  and  alter- 
nately interchanged,  until  no  reader  feels  the  least  assurance  of  the  mean- 
ing in  a  given  case  until  he  examines  the  context.  Even  Rcligioiisge- 
schichte  (the  History  of  Religion)  is  so  vaguely  used  that  the  translator 
of  De  la  Saussaye's  Manual  of  the  History  of  Religion  gives  as  the 
English  equivalent,  "Science  of  Religion."  Neither  title  well  fits  the  con- 
tents of  the  book,  but,  as  between  the  two,  that  chosen  by  the  author  would 
seem  the  more  appropriate.  Following  such  examples,  Professor  Menzies 
not  only  uses  the  term  "History  of  Religion"  as  synonymous  with 
"Science  of  Religion,"  but  even  seems  to  defend  such  a  confusing  usage. 
("History  of  Religion,"  London  and  New  York,  1895,  pp.  2,  3.) 

The  above  grouping  of  the  new  sciences  now  rapidly  coming  to  recog- 
nition further  shows  the  infelicitous  character  of  another  term  often 
applied  to  this  field  of  study;  to  wit,  "Comparative  Religion,"  or,  worse 
yet,  "Comparative  Religions."  This  originated  by  contraction  from  the 
phrase,  "the  Comparative  Study  of  Religions."  Louis  Henry  Jordan, 
author  of  our  most  important  treatise  bearing  the  name,  admits  the  in- 
felicity of  the  designation,  but  adopts  it  as  the  best  now  attainable  (vol.  i, 
pp.  24-28).  As  used  by  him  it  covers  but  a  limited  portion  of  the  general 
field.  The  science  he  so  ably  represents  he  explicitly  distinguishes  from 
"The  History  of  Religions"  on  the  one  hand,  and  from  "The  Philosophy 
of  Religion"  on  the  other;  holding  that  the  former  should  precede,  and 


12  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  latter  follow  it  (pp.  9-12).  His  defined  field  for  "Comparative  Reli- 
gion" is,  therefore,  within  that  covered  by  "The  Systematic  Group"  in 
our  classification  above.  On  pp.  68-71,  however,  he  seems  to  claim  for 
it  lines  of  investigation  to  which  the  historian  of  particular  religions  would 
appear  to  possess  a  prior  claim. 


CHAPTER  IV 

Sources  for  the  Scientific  Study  of  the  Religious 
Phenomena  of  the  World 

The  sources  from  which  the  student  of  religions  chiefly  draws 
his  information  may  be  divided  into  two  general  classes: 
I.  The  Proximate. 

II.  Tlie  Remoter. 

The  former  consists  mainly  of  the  treatises  which  authors  more 
or  less  competent  have  written  in  elucidation  of  the  different 
relig-ions  and  of  their  history.  Of  the  latter,  the  following  are 
more  important : 

1.  The  epigraphical  and  monumental. 

2.  The  hagiographical,  or  that  found  in  the  sacred  books  of 
different  religions. 

3.  The   legendary  and   mythological. 

4.  The  incidental   or  collateral. 

In  many  cases  several  or  all  of  these  sources  are  available. 
Thus,  for  example,  if  we  wish  to  investigate  the  Egyptian  con- 
ception of  a  future  life,  we  have  (i)  monumental  inscriptions 
and  mural  decorations  which  illustrate  it.  We  have  (2)  in  the 
Funereal  Ritual,  or  so-called  Book  of  the  Dead,  an  extremely 
valuable  hagiographical  source  of  information.  Then  (3)  there 
are  important  myths  and  legends  to  be  examined;  and    (4)   as 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  13 

incidental  or  collateral  sources,  the  statements  of  early  Greek 
travelers  who  visited  the  country,  etc. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  many  cases  we  are  shut  up  to  a  single 
source,  and  often  to  one  of  the  least  definite  and  trustworthy  of 
all.  Thus,  for  example,  if  our  problem  were  to  ascertain  what 
views  of  the  future  life  were  held  by  the  ancient  IMassageta?,  we 
should  be  restricted  to  the  fourth  variety  of  remoter  sources,  if 
indeed  we  could  find  any  whatsoever. 

All  these  sources  must  be  used  with  the  utmost  care  if  we 
would  not  be  led  astray.  Where  more  than  one  is  available,  the 
yield  of  each  should  be  supplemented,  corrected,  or  confirmed,  as 
the  case  may  be,  by  the  yield  of  each  of  the  others.  In  this  task, 
unwearying  patience,  rare  historic  insight,  and  the  utmost  breadth 
of  scholarship  are  cxigently   demanded. 

Especially  difficult  is  the  utilizing  of  the  mythological  sources ; 
for  while  some  myths  may  suggest  historic  facts  in  forms  not  too 
poetical  to  be  beyond  trustworthy  interpretation,  these  consti- 
tute but  the  smallest  fraction  of  the  mass  which  must  be  studied. 
In  this  mass  are  innumerable  myths  of  mere  spontaneous  story- 
telling; those  of  an  imaginative  etymology;  those  of  a  fanciful 
natural  philosophy  and  natural  history ;  those  of  a  more  or  less 
conscious  didactic  aim :  those  of  a  distinctly  conscious  afifectation 
of  archaic  ideas  and  modes  of  expression.  To  detect  the  exact 
character  of  each,  or  even  its  exact  value  or  its  valuelessness  to 
the  student  of  religions,  is  one  of  the  most  arduous  if  not  the 
most  hopeless  of  tasks. 

Both  of  the  above-named  general  classes  of  sources  are  con- 
stantly becoming  richer  and  more  copious.  The  progress  of 
archccological  exploration  in  ancient  seats  of  civilization,  the  ad- 
vance of  general  and  special  ethnography,  the  constantly  increas- 
ing attention  to  Oriental  and  other  literatures  and  to  folklore, 
are  steadily  enlarging  and  otherwise  improving  each  variety  of 
the   remoter  sources;   while  living  writers,   availing  themselves 


14  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

of  this  new  knowledge,  are  producing  more  and  more  trustworthy 
treatises  entitled  to  rank  as  enlargements  and  improvements  of 
those  sources  of  our  study  which  we  have  styled  the  proximate. 


CHAPTER  V 
Personal  Equipment  for  the  Study  of  Religions 

In  order  that  a  student  of  the  world's  religions  may  be  quali- 
fied to  use  with  any  freedom  and  thoroughness  even  those  sources 
which  in  the  last  chapter  we  styled  proximate,  it  is  indispensable 
that  he  have  a  good  working  knowledge  of  at  least  five  languages : 
the  Greek,  Latin,  German,  French,  and  English.  The  literatures 
of  all  these  languages  should  be  readily  accessible  for  each  and 
every  investigation  he  may  have  occasion  to  make. 

For  the  full  utilizing  of  the  remoter  sources  no  human  knowl- 
edge is  superfluous.  The  requisites  here  are  so  vast  that  no  one 
man  can  dream  of  acquiring  them  all.  In  some  of  these  investi- 
gations the  key  to  a  right  solution  of  the  problem  is  as  likely  as 
not  to  be  found  only  in  some  quite  out-of-the-way  field  of  knowl- 
edge, such  as  ancient  heraldry,  astrology,  alchemy,  metrology. 
Lenormant  made  his  rare  knowledge  and  skill  in  numismatics  of 
service  to  the  study  of  religion.  In  the  study  of  ancient  mythol- 
ogies, a  knowledge  of  seals,  intaglios,  and  cameos  is  of  great 
importance ;  in  fine,  the  full  employment  of  our  sources  calls  for 
the  patient  cooperation  of  vast  numbers  of  specialists  in  every 
department  of  learning.  Even  with  this  cooperation,  the  time 
can  never  come  when  we  can  be  confident  that  the  monuments, 
and  traditions,  and  languages  of  antiquity  have  no  new  secret  to 
yield  up  to  skillful  investigation. 

If  these  remarks  be  true  it  is  plain  that  there  can  be  no  exact 
cninncration  of  the  particular  sciences  which  are,  or  should  be, 
preliminary  to  the  study  of  religions. 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  15 


CHAPTER  VI 

Auxiliary  Sciences 

Much  the  same  must  be  said  of  any  attempt  to  name  the 
sciences  properly  auxiliary  to  our  study.  There  is  no  science 
which  in  one  way  or  another  is  not  tributary  and  helpful  to  this 
line  of  investigation.  As  there  is  nothing-  in  the  universe  which 
does  not  come  within  the  circle  of  religious  ideas  and  interests, 
there  can  be  no  body  of  scientific  truths  destitute  of  significance 
for  the  study  of  religions.  If,  however,  one  inquires  for  a  list  of 
those  sciences  from  whose  progress  our  study  in  its  present  state 
has  most  to  hope,  at  least  the  following  would  have  to  be  included : 

I.  General  Anthropology  and  Ethnology. 

II.  Psychology,  Personal  and  Ethnic  {Volkcrpsycholoij^ic). 

III.  The  Science  of  Language  and  Comparative  Philology. 

IV.  Moral  I'hilosophy  and  Comparative  Ethics. 

V.  Political  Philosophy  and  Comparative  Jurisprudence. 

\T.  The  History  of  Art  and  Comparative  /Esthetics. 

\'ll.  The    History   of   Human    Culture    and   the   Comparative 

Study  of  Civilizations. 

\TII.  Universal  History  and  the  Philosophy  of  History. 

IX.  Geography  of  Races,  Civilizations  and  Religions. 

X.  General  Sociology. 

The  relations  which  these  various  branches  sustain  to  each 
other,  and  the  exact  ground  which  each  should  cover,  are  not 
as  yet  in  all  cases  well  defined;  but  the  progress  of  any  one  of 
them,  however  defined,  is  helpful  to  the  study  of  religions. 


i6  THE  RELIGIONS  OE  THE  WORLD 


CHAPTER  VII 

The  Attractiveness,   the   Utility,  and  the  Perils  of 
THE  Study  of  Religions 

To  the  thoughtful  mind  whatever  is  human  has  imperishable 
interest  and  attraction.  Be  it  but  a  bit  of  drifting  folklore;  be  it 
but  a  barbarous  rite ;  be  it  a  peculiarity  of  speech,  of  government, 
or  of  social  organization  ;  be  it  an  achievement,  an  inspiration,  a 
tradition,  a  myth,  a  parable,  a  discovery,  an  invention ;  be  it  barely 
a  fossil  relic  of  some  far-off  geologic  period— if  it  is  only  human, 
it  is  at  once  invested  with  a  fascination  altogether  unlike  that 
attaching  to  anything  not  expressive  of  personal  life.  But  of 
all  human  aspirations  the  religious  is  the  highest ;  of  all  human 
traditions  those  of  religion  are  the  oldest ;  of  all  human  institu- 
tions those  of  religion  are  the  most  vital ;  of  all  human  aims  and 
achievements  in  art,  in  literature,  in  music,  in  education,  those  of 
religion  are  the  divinest.  In  the  study  of  religion,  therefore,  the 
charm  which  the  human  has  for  the  humanist  and  for  humanity 
is  at  its  maximum. 

But  beyond  and  above  the  human  lies  the  superhuman.  And 
it  is  to  the  realm  of  the  superhuman  ;  to  the  heavens  and  hells 
of  humanity  ;  to  the  worlds  invisible  and  worlds  yet  to  come  ;  to 
orders  of  beings  immaterial ;  to  disembodied  spirits,  angels,  arch- 
angels, rulers  of  celestial  spheres,  divinities  in  human  and  other 
forms,  demigods ;  to  the  Supreme  and  Eternal  One,  who  alone 
can  say,  "I  am  and  by  me  all  subsist" — it  is  to  this  realm 
that  the  study  of  religions  introduces  us.  Hence,  as  long  as  the 
hidden  future  either  attracts  or  terrifies  men.  as  long  as  the 
mystery  of  the  unseen  ])iques  the  curiosity  of  human  questioners, 
as  long  as  the  superhuman  origin,  ground,  and  destination  of  the 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  17 

world  and  of  humanity  have  fascination  for  human  thought,  so 
long  must  the  study  of  the  phenomena  of  religion  have  fascinat- 
ing interest  for  men. 

Again,  at  the  present  time  the  study  has  the  charm  of  wonder- 
ful freshness  and  novelty.  In  our  generation  a  greater  progress 
has  been  made  in  this  field  of  investigation  than  in  any  preceding 
one.  The  vast  literatures  of  the  great  ethnic  religions  of  Asia 
are  for  the  first  time  undergoing  exploration.  The  unearthed 
cities  and  shrines  of  ancient  empires  are  daily  yielding  precious 
secrets.  Through  the  gates  of  unlocked  hieroglyphics  we  are 
conducted  into  ancient  worlds  and  civilizations  whose  very 
memory  had  perished.  Meantime  the  pioneers  of  the  Christian 
missions  and  of  commerce  are  penetrating  into  the  inmost  recesses 
of  the  last  retreats  of  barbarism,  and  disclosing  for  comparative 
study  the  superstitions  and  the  customs  and  the  cults  of  those 
respecting  whom  recorded  history  could  give  us  no  knowledge. 
Till  now  the  materials  for  an  all-comprehending  and  therefore 
truly  scientific  study  of  the  religion  have  been  lacking.  Even  at 
present  its  vast  sources  are  just  opened.  All  the  greater,  of 
course,  are  the  zeal,  the  enthusiasm,  the  success  of  the  workers 
who  are  constantly  bringing  new  materials  to  light.  All  the 
greater,  too,  is  the  zest  with  which  constructive  scholarship  is 
giving  itself  to  the  task  of  mastering  the  vast  results  of  individual 
specialists  in  archaeology,  philology,  ethnology,  etc.,  and  of  organ- 
izing them  into  the  new  special,  comparative,  and  universal 
sciences  of  religion,  which  as  yet  have  scarcely  been  named  and 
defined. 

Of  the  utility  of  the  study  of  one's  own  religion,  whichever  it 
may  be.  it  is  not  necessary  to  speak.  Every  intelligent  and 
thoughtful  man  feels  it  to  be  of  practical  importance  to  know  the 
truth  respecting  the  origin  and  history  of  the  religious  community 
with  which  by  birth  or  public  profession  he  is  associated.  With- 
out  intelligent  personal  convictions   respecting   the  propriety  of 


i8  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

the  claims  which  his  rehgion  makes  upon  him,  he  cannot  satis- 
factorily meet  those  claims.  But  without  a  study  of  the  system, 
and  of  the  duties  which  it  inculcates,  and  of  the  grounds  on 
which  it  bases  those  duties,  he  cannot  have  the  requisite  personal 
convictions.  Hence,  among  every  people  and  sect  a  study  of 
the  inherited  religion  is  esteemed  essential  to  an  intelligent  and 
well-supported  practice  of  the  duties  it  inculcates. 

As  respects  ourselves,  who  are  representatives  of  the  World- 
Religion  in  its  Christian  stage,  the  advantages  accruing  from  the 
study  of  the  non-Christian  systems  along  with  our  own,  and 
from  the  study  of  all  religious  phenomena,  historically,  system- 
atically, and  philosophically,  are  almost  numberless.  A  few  of 
the  more  obvious  and  direct  are  the  following: 

1.  Such  study  must  tend  to  guard  one  against  that  narrowness 
and  uncharitableness  of  judgiuent,  that  caste-pride  and  self- 
righteousness,  into  which  all  ignorant  religionists  are  sure  to  fall. 

2.  More  than  almost  any  study,  it  must  throw  light  upon  the 
nature  of  man ;  upon  his  relation  to  other  beings ;  upon  the  law 
and  end  and  meaning  of  history ;  upon  the  relation  of  the  finite 
to  the  infinite.  In  fine,  there  is  scarcely  a  problem  of  anthropology, 
ethnology,  sociology,  cosmology,  theology,  or  ontology  toward 
whose  solution  the  thorough  and  scientific  investigation  of  the 
religious  phenomena  of  the  world  will  not  contribute. 

3.  The  great  literary  and  artistic  creations  of  the  world  are 
so  inseparably  connected  with  religious  ideas,  inspirations,  and 
achievements  that,  without  familiarity  with  these,  the  Iliad  and 
the  Mahabharata,  the  Serapaeum  and  the  Parthenon,  Apollo  Bel- 
vedere and  the  oratorio  of  the  Messiah,  are  entirely  unintelli- 
gible. The  study  of  religion  and  of  its  history  is,  therefore,  a 
fundamental  and  essential  element  in  any  truly  liberal  and  polite 
education. 

4.  If  Christianity  is  mistaken  and  arrogant  in  its  claims  and 
expectations,  if  it  is  only  one  of  many  religions,  all  of  merely 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  19 

Iiuman  origin,  it  surely  is  in  the  interest  of  truth  and  genuine 
progress  that  this  fact  be  shown.  On  the  other  hand,  if  Chris- 
tianity furnishes  the  only  key  to  human  history  and  destiny,  the 
sooner  and  the  wider  and  the  more  convincingly  this  can  be 
proven  the  better.  But  for  the  investigating  and  arguing  of  this 
question  on  either  side  a  wide  knowledge  of  the  religions  of  the 
world  and  of  their  history  has  now  become  indispensable. 

5.  Finally,  to  those  who,  by  settled  convictions  of  its  truth,  and 
by  public  profession  of  its  life,  and  by  official  authorization  of 
its  professors,  are  public  expounders  and  teachers  and  defenders 
of  Christianity,  a  wide  and  constantly  increasing  acquaintance 
with  the  religious  phenomena  of  the  world  is  of  incalculable  ad- 
vantage :  partly  by  afifording  a  world  of  varied  and  apposite  illus- 
tration such  as  a  public  teacher  needs ;  partly  by  the  new  light 
which  it  sheds  upon  Bible  history  and  Bible  doctrine;  partly  by 
reason  of  the  ability  it  gives  to  expose  the  ignorance  of  dabblers 
and  babblers ;  and,  finally,  by  reason  of  the  fresh  and  ever  more 
perfect  insight  it  gives  into  the  essence  of  the  true  religion,  and 
into  the  identity  of  ideal  Christianity  with  ideal  religion. 

But  while  so  great  utility  must  be  claimed  for  our  study,  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  to  the  beginner  it  presents  somewhat  of 
peril.  In  every  case  the  student  approaches  the  investigation  with 
religious,  if  not  also  with  speculative,  and  national,  and  racial 
prepossessions.  So  much  more  intimate  and  sympathetic  has  been 
his  relation  to  one  of  the  religions  of  the  world  than  to  the  others 
that  it  becomes  one  of  the  most  difficult  of  tasks  for  him,  in  study- 
ing other  systems,  to  place  himself  in  every  case  at  the  point  of 
view  of  those  who  have  been  born  and  reared  in  them.  And 
just  in  proportion  to  the  difficulty  of  doing  this  is  there  danger 
lest  he  do  less  than  justice  to  the  alien  systems,  even  if  he  does 
not  do  more  than  justice  to  his  own. 

Again,  every  marked  widening  of  intellectual  vision  caused  by 
new   knowledge   necessitates   new   adjustments   of  knowledge   to 


20  TME  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

faith  and  of  faith  to  knowledge.  And  every  attempt  to  effect 
a  thus  necessitated  new  adjustment  involves  something  of  peril 
to  one's  faith,  whether  that  faith  be  true  or  false.  In  cases  where 
it  is  false  the  increase  of  knowledge  must,  slowly  it  may  be.  yet 
surely,  destroy  it.  But  even  where  one's  religious  conviction  is 
essentially  true  and  well  founded  it  may  be  sorely  imperiled,  and, 
in  particular  individuals,  is  doubtless  often  destroyed  by  the  force 
of  that  natural  reaction  which  the  mind  experiences  on  discover- 
ing the  inadequacy  of  early  and  outgrown  expressions  of  its  faith. 
For  example,  when  the  Christian  student  comes  for  the  first  time 
to  investigate,  in  a  scientific  spirit,  the  different  religions  of  the 
world ;  to  compare  and  contrast  the  Christian  wnth  other  religious 
systems;  to  face  for  the  first  time  the  impressive  thought  that 
even  upon  his  own  principles  the  providential  government  of  the 
world  must  in  some  way  have  included  and  utilized  all  ethnic 
religions;  that  therefore,  somehow,  they  must  all  have  had  a 
place  and  a  significance  in  the  divine  plan,  his  mind  is  apt  to 
experience  a  kind  of  bewilderment.  The  new  horizon  is  so  much 
broader  than  the  accustomed  one  that  he. is  in  danger  of  entirely 
losing  sight  of  the  old  and  familiar  landmarks.  Upon  a  naturally 
narrow,  conceited,  and  ill-balanced  mind  the  effect,  in  many  cases, 
is  to  induce  a  reactionary  contempt  for  its  earlier  faith  and  a  total 
rejection  of  the  Christian  world-view.  Upon  a  broader,  deeper, 
and  more  penetrating  intelligence  the  effect  is  quite  the  reverse. 
The  height  and  depth  and  length  and  breadth  of  God's  kingdom 
are  seen  in  a  light  never  dreamed  of  before.  Now  for  the  first 
time  does  Christianity  become  the  true  World-Religion,  the  ex- 
l)lanation  of  all  history,  the  prophecy  of  a  yet-to-be-consummated 
ethnic  and  cosmic  unity. 


BOOK  FIRST 


The  Religious  Phenomena  of  the  World  Historically 
Considered 


Introduction  to  the  Book. 

Division       I.     History  of  Particular  Religions. 

Division     H.     History    of   Developments    Common    to    Several 
Particular  Religions. 

Division  HI.     History     of     Developments     Common     to     All 
Religions. 


INTRODUCTION 


In  chapter  third  of  the  General  Introduction  we  saw  that  the 
historic  method  of  investigation  and  representation  might  be 
apphed : 

1.  To  particular  religions,  ethnic  or  other;  or 

2.  To  historic  features,  tendencies,  or  developments  common 
to  a  class  of  religions  ;  or 

3.  To  the  religious  life  of  mankind  as  a  whole. 

The  first  of  these  applications  gives  us  the  History  of  Reli- 
gions individually  considered ;  the  second,  the  History  of  Groups 
of  Religions  comparatively  or  otherwise  considered  ;  the  third,  the 
History  of  Religion  universally  considered. 

In  each  of  these  lines  of  work  we  have  as  yet  only  tentative  and  unsatis- 
factory beginnings.  In  the  opening  section  of  his  "History  of  Religion" 
(London  and  Boston,  1877),  Professor  Tiele  has  defined  the  first  and  last 
of  the  above  applications,  but  somewhat  strangely  omitted  any  recognition 
of  the  second.  Professor  J.  C.  Moffat,  of  Princeton,  in  his  "Comparative 
History  of  Religions"  (New  York,  1871),  nowhere  defines  what  he 
conceives  to  be  the  proper  aim  or  field  of  the  branch  of  history  whose 
name  he  employs.  The  work  to  which  he  applies  it  is  a  contribution,  not  so 
much  to  the  Comparative  History  of  Religions  properly  so  called,  as  to 
the  History  of  Religion  universally  considered.  Even  the  "History  of 
Religion,"  by  Professor  Menzies,  makes  no  distinction  whatever  between 
the  historic,  the  systematic,  and  the  philosophic  procedures  in  this  field  of 
study. 

Historical  investigation  can  promise  no  useful  result  imless 
based  upon  a  correct  idea  of  history  itself,  and  especially  of  its 

2.3 


24  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

essential  factors  and  laws.  Iwir  example,  if  lunnan  freedom  be  a 
reality,  human  developments  must  be  radicallx'  different  from  all 
developments  below  the  human  sphere.  Each  class  must  be  inter- 
preted in  the  light  of  that  difference.  Again,  if  superhuman  or 
subhuman  personalities  exist,  and  have  at  any  time,  in  any  place, 
or  in  any  degree  affected  human  thought,  feeling,  or  action,  these 
extra-human  personalities  constitute  a  factor  in  the  development 
of  the  race — a  factor  without  reference  to  which  the  race's  history 
can  never  be  rightly  conceived  of  or  represented.  One  of  the 
first  and  fundamental  duties,  therefore,  of  any  author  professing 
to  set  forth  the  history  of  a  religion,  or  of  a  movement  belong- 
ing to  several  religions,  or  of  religion  universally  considered,  is 
to  define  his  standpoint  with  respect  to  man's  freedom  or  unfree- 
dom,  and  with  respect  to  the  adequacy  or  inadequacy  of  human 
agency  taken  alone  to  account  for  the  phenomena  under  investi- 
gation. Furthermore,  having  clearly  and  frankly  defined  it,  it  is, 
of  course,  his  duty  to  remain  true  to  it  throughout  his  entire 
treatment  of  the  facts  considered. 

The  scientific  and  philosophic  vindication  of  the  standpoint 
adopted  by  any  historian  of  religion  nuist  be  found  partly  in  the 
degree  of  perfection  with  which  it  corresponds  to  the  facts  in 
hand,  and  partly  in  its  relation  to  the  outcome  of  the  Philosophy 
of  Religion  in  general.  So  far  as  a  priori  considerations  are  con- 
cerned, if  the  materialist  or  agnostic  claims  that  by  the  logical 
law  of  parsimony  we  are  estopped  from  postulating  superhuman 
factors  in  any  domain  of  human  history  until  it  has  been  demon- 
strated beyond  dispute  that  the  human  ones  cannot  possibly  ex- 
plain the  facts,  the  thcist,  and  even  the  pantheist,  may,  on  the 
other  hand,  with  equal  proi)riety  affirm  that  to  approach  the 
study  of  religions  witli  an  a  priori  denial  of  the  existence  and 
possible  influence  of  superhuman  beings  is  as  unreasonable  as 
it  would  be  to  approach  the  study  of  the  flora  of  the  earth  with 
a    sturdy    determination    not    to   admit    the    existence    of    super- 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  25 

flora]  liglit  and  air  and  the  possible  influence  of  superfloral  flori- 
culturists. 

As  all  human  history  is  a  process  of  constructive  or  destruc- 
tive development,  the  history  of  relii^ions  and  of  relij^ion  partakes 
of  this  character.  However  abrupt,  radical,  and  revolutionary 
some  of  the  changes  of  the  religious  world  may  at  first  sight  ap- 
pear, there  is  never  an  entire  break  with  the  past.  As  the  reli- 
gious life  of  the  man,  the  community,  the  race,  goes  forward,  new 
factors  are  continually  taking  their  places  in  it;  new  social  and 
spiritual  and  other  environments  are  constantly  coming  to  affect 
it ;  yet  it  is  the  same  man,  the  same  people,  the  same  race  whose 
life  is  thus  proceeding  from  phase  to  phase.  In  the  subject  of 
each  religious  development  resides  a  continuity  of  being.  In  its 
life,  as  in  all  vital  processes,  the  immediate  past  conditions  the 
possibilities  of  the  present ;  the  present,  the  possibilities  of  the 
immediate  future. 

In  order  rightly  to  conceive  of  any  evolution,  care  must  be  taken 
to  obtain  a  correct  conception,  first,  of  the  subject;  and,  secondly, 
of  the  environment. 

This  being  the  case,  it  is  evident  that  in  developments  in  any 
wise  related  to  man  it  is  hardly  possible  to  give  too  much  atten- 
tion to  the  element  of  personality  in  both  subject  and  environment. 
The  development  of  bodily  strength  and  aptitude  attained  by  the 
athlete  can  never  be  imderstood  without  particular  attention  to 
the  personal  purpose  and  personal  resolution  by  which  he  has  held 
himself  to  faithful  and  prolonged  training.  So  the  evolution  of 
a  thorn-bearing  tree  into  a  pear-bearing  one  requires,  for  its 
right  understanding,  a  knowledge  of  the  power  of  a  skillful 
grafter;  in  other  words,  requires  that  the  influence  of  a  personal, 
and  to  it  su])eriiatural,  environment  shall  be  taken  into  account. 
Hence,  in  studying  a  religious  evolution,  equal  care  must  be  taken, 
on  the  one  hand,  that  the  personal  power  of  self-determination 
belonging   to   each    man   be   not  overlooked,    and,   on    the   other 


26  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

liand,  that  due  account  be  taken  of  the  influences  that  may  come 
from  the  other  personal  powers,  human  or  extra-human,  which 
help  to  make  up  each  man's  environment. 

In  investigating  and  setting  forth  the  history  of  religion  uni- 
versally considered,  nothing  can  be  more  unscientific  than  to 
ignore  the  chronological  order  of  the  different  particular  religions 
as  they  were  actually  related  to  the  life  of  the  world,  substituting 
therefor  a  purely  arbitrary  one,  based  upon  supposed  degrees  of 
comparative  simplicity,  or  comparative  complexness,  or  like  prin- 
ciples of  classification.  Tide's  arrangement  of  the  different  sys- 
tems, according  to  which  the  student  is.  introduced  to  the  religion 
of  the  American  Cherokee  and  Eskimo  before  he  is  to  the  reli- 
gions of  ancient  Chaldsea,  Egypt,  or  Phoenicia,  and  to  German 
mythology  before  he  is  to  the  Greek,  is  a  conspicuous  example 
of  the  fault  here  alluded  to.  In  the  work  of  Professor  Menzies 
the  order  is  open. to  the  same  criticism:  Islam  is  presented  before 
Christianity,  and  Primitive  Semitic  religion  long  after  the  religion 
of  the  Assyrians. 

The  question  as  to  the  earliest  form  of  religion  is  at  the  present 
day  so  complicated  with  other  questions  that  the  proper  place  for 
its  discussion  is  in  the  Philosophy  of  Religion,  where  in  due  time 
it  will  come  before  us.  Suffice  it  here  to  say  that,  according  to 
the  oldest  traditions  of  the  oldest  peoples,  not  less  than  according 
to  the  sacred  records  of  the  Hebrew,  Mohammedan,  and  Christian 
world,  men  were  in  the  beginning  blessed  with  divine  fellowship 
and  favor,  and  only  after  losing  this  fellowship  became  what  they 
now  are.  The  considerations  ordinarily  adduced  to  disprove  an 
original  state  of  innocence  are  far  from  convincing.  Most  of 
them  would  equally  avail  to  disprove  every  phase  or  stage  of 
human  evolution  that  has  not  been  in  the  line  of  direct  progress 
toward  greater  and  greater  perfection. 

In  Illingworth's  "Personality,  Human  and  Divine,"  Chapter 
\T,  may  be  found  an  eminently  fair-minded  consideration  of  the 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  27 

problems  connected  with  the  prehistoric  beginnings  of  the  reh- 
gious  hfe  of  mankind.  The  next  ensuing  chapter  of  the  same 
work  continues  the  discussion  in  a  way  helpful  to  the  beginner 
in  studies  of  this  nature. 


DIVISION  FIRST 

The  History  of  Particular  Religions 

The  most  natural  order  in  which  to  treat  of  the  history  of  the 
leading  religions  of  the  past  and  present  is  according  to  the  three 
following  groups : 

I.     The  religions  known  to  the  Ancient  World. 
II.     Those  known  to  the  Mediaeval  World. 
III.     Those  with  which  modern  discovery  and  exploration  have 
made  us  acquainted. 

It  is  a  special  recommendation  of  this  order  that,  better  than 
any  other,  it  enables  the  student  fruitfully  to  combine  the  study 
of  particular  religions,  and  of  groups  of  religions  historically  re- 
lated, with  the  study  of  the  history  of  religion  universally  consid- 
ered. This  will  become  more  and  more  evident  the  farther  the 
investigator  advances.  We  may,  therefore,  proceed  to  the  ques- 
tion. What  are  the  important  religions  in  each  of  these  groups, 
and  to  what  point  has  the  scientific  study  of  their  history  at- 
tained ? 

Part  I.  History  of  the  Principal  Religions  Knoivn  to  the 
Ancient  World 

Here  belong:  (i)  The  religion  of  the  ancient  Babylonians  and 
Assyrians,  including  that  of  their  Akkado-Sumerian  predecessors. 


28  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

(2)  The  religion  of  the  ancient  Egyptians.  (3)  The  rehgion 
of  the  Phoenicians,  Carthaginians,  Canaanites,  and  rre-L>^lanhc 
Arabians.  (4)  The  rehgion  of  the  ancient  Persians  and  ^ledo- 
Persians.  (5)  The  rehgion  of  the  Pelasgians  and  Greeks.  (6) 
The  rehgion  of  the  Etrnscans  and  Romans.  (7)  Tlie  rehgion 
which,  at  the  close  of  the  period,  vitally  and  permanently  sup- 
planted all  the  foregoing,  to  wit,  the  one  which,  by  virtue  of  its 
contrast  to  all  these  local  and  national  systems,  is  ever  increas- 
ingly entitled  to  be  called  the  World-Religion. 

The  foregoing  include  all  the  important  religions  which  were 
known  to  the  ancient  world,  and  which  by  their  growths  and 
decays,  and  by  their  mutual  historic  actions  and  reactions,  made 
the  ancient  world  religiously  what  it  was.  The  religions  of  the 
Chinese  and  Indo-Aryans  are  quite  possibly  as  old  as  those  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  but  not  having  come  in  any  inhuential  sense, 
if  at  all,  to  the  knowledge  of  the  vitally  associated  nations  of 
the  ancient  world,  they  do  not  belong  to  our  present  group. 
Their  history  can  best  be  studied  in  connection  with  the  third 
period — the  period  in  which,  coming  out  of  their  isolation,  they 
first  truly  begin  to  bring  their  long  accumulating  contribution  to 
universal  history  into  effective  relations  with  the  total  life  of 
humanity. 

The  ethnic  religions  of  the  above  group  have  this  in  common: 
they  are  stvled  polytheistic.  In  entering  upon  the  study  of  poly- 
theisms, however,  two  things  should  never  be  forgotten.  First: 
A  belief  in  the  existence  of  such  limited  and  originated  beings 
as  the  so-called  gods  of  the  polytheist  is  not  in  the  least  incom- 
]iatible  with  a  genuine  belief  in  an  unlimited  and  unoriginated 
P)eing  back  of  and  anterior  to  all  these,  a  "God  of  gods,"  as  Plato 
says — the  real  and  Eternal  Source  of  gods  and  of  men.  Poly- 
theism, therefore,  and  monotheism  are  no  more  mutually  exclu- 
sive at  bottom  than  are  monotheism  and  a  belief  in  archangels.  In 
fact,  the  most  elaborate  system  of  totemism  is  compatible  with  a 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  29 

fundamentally  monotheistic  belief  whenever — as  is  usually  the 
case — the  totemistic  tribe  conceives  of  its  ancestral  animal  or 
plant  as  having  originally  received  its  being  and  destination  from 
the  hand  of  the  "Great  Spirit."  Second:  All  peoples  who  explain 
the  multiplicity  of  their  "gods"  by  theogonic  processes  of  emana- 
tion or  generation  must  be  assumed  to  have  started  with  a  pre- 
historic, or  else  self-postulated,  monotheism.  No  theogony  is 
complete  and  satisfying  until  it  has  conducted  the  mind  back  to 
a  primeval  and  unengendered  Progenitor  of  the  total  divine 
family.  It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  in  every  historic  poly- 
theism we  find  traces  of  monotheism,  prehistoric  or  speculative, 
or  both.  The  Babylonians  had  numberless  gods,  but  they  recog- 
nized one  who  was  considered  older  than  all  others.  The  same 
holds  true  of  the  ancient  Egyptians.  The  name  of  their  oldest 
god  was  Xii.  For  modern  instances  among  savage  tribes,  see 
Andrew  Lang's  book  entitled  "The  Making  of  Religion,"  Part 
Second. 

Even  if  the  oldest  ethnic  religions  presented  no  traces  of  an 
earlier  monotheism  it  would  not  disprove  the  biblical  account  of 
antediluvian  religion.  It  might  only  prove  that  in  the  long  period 
elapsing  between  the  deluge  and  the  date  of  the  oldest  records 
of  profane  history  the  widely  scattered  descendants  of  Noah 
either  totally  lost  the  knowledge  of  the  one  true  God,  or  else 
placed  the  worship  of  their  national  and  tribal  divinities  to  such 
a  degree  in  the  foreground  that  in  our  exceedingly  meager  sources 
this  worship  seems  the  only  one  known  and  practiced. 

In  proceeding  with  our  study  the  aim  of  the  student  should  be 
to  acquire  as  clear  an  idea  as  ])ossible  of  the  nature,  extent,  and 
present  state  of  the  sources  for  the  study  of  each  of  the  above 
eninnerated  religions  :  also  information  as  to  the  religion  itself, 
the  phases  through  which  it  passed,  its  significance  for  the  historv 
of   human   culture  and   for  the   World-Religion. 

More  particular  instruction  as  to  means  and  methods  may  at 


30  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

this  stage  be  given  orally  and  by  assigned  questions  and  topics  in 
the  classroom,  following  the  order  of  the  chapters  below: 

CHAPTER  I 
History  of  the  Religion  of  the  ancient  Babylonians  and  Assyrians. 

CHAPTER  II 
History  of  the  Religion  of  the  ancient  Egyptians. 

CHAPTER  HI 
History  of  tlie  Religion  of  the  Phoenicians,  Carthaginians,  Canaanites,  and 
Pre-Islamic  Arabians. 

CHAPTER  IV 
History  of  the  Rehgion  of  the  ancient  Persians  and  Medo-Persians. 

CHAPTER  V 
History  of  the   Rehgion  of  the   Pelasgians   and   Greeks. 

CHAPTER  VI 
History  of  the  Rehgion  of  the  Etruscans  and  Romans. 

CHAPTER  VII 
History  of  the  Religion  wliich  at  the  close  of  the  period  vitally  and  perma- 
nently supplanted  all  the  foregoing,  to   wit,  the  World-Religion. 

This  last-named  religion  is  so  singularly  unlike  the  other  con- 
stituents of  the  group  that  before  entering  upon  the  study  of  its 
history  during  the  period  the  student  may  well  pause  to  note  its 
characteristic  quality. 

It  should  be  observed,  then,  that  while  among  the  eldest  peoples 
of  the  ancient  world  we  find  a  vague  and  shadowy  recognition 
of  the  God  of  heaven  gradually  giving  place  in  historic  times  to 
increasingly  polytheistic  ethnic  religions,  and  these  in  turn  oft- 
times  menaced  and  sometimes  undermined  by  later  speculative, 
moral,  and  religious  movements,  or  by  political  revolutions,  there 
is  one  line  of  history  in  which  we  see  that  primitive  Heaven-God 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  31 

worship  preserved  and  made  more  perfect  from  age  to  age.  This 
remarkable  hne  is  that  up  which  our  own  reUgion  traces  its 
genealogy. 

At  first  sight  it  might  seem  as  if  this  unique  and  most  remark- 
able of  all  historic  developments  in  the  religious  sphere  might 
more  appropriately  and  logically  be  subdivided  or  resolved  into 
three  distinct  religious  systems,  and  classified  thus : 

1.  Primeval  Religion,  or  the  rude  original  germ  of  all  the 
ancient  religions. 

2.  Judaism,  as  the  ethnic  or  national  system  of  the  Jews. 

3.  Christianity,  as  a  beneficent  schismatic  and  sectarian  revolt 
from  the  narrowness  and  exclusiveness  of  the  national  Jewish 
faith. 

Those  who  recognize  no  superhuman  element  in  the  entire 
evolution  do  thus  proceed. 

A  deeper  study  of  the  whole  subject,  however,  will  manifest  the 
impropriety  of  such  classification,  and  the  scientific  necessity  of 
conceding  to  this  ancient  worship  a  character  and  historic  unity 
of  its  own.  Its  absolutely  earliest  form  was,  indeed,  primeval, 
preethnic  even,  and  hence,  in  a  certain  sense,  the  germ  of  all  the 
most  ancient  religions  of  the  world,  but  its  Hebrew  form  was 
not  ethnic  in  the  proper  sense.  Although  to  the  Hebrews  a 
national  religion,  it  was  not  national  in  the  same  sense  as  were  the 
surrounding  Gentile  religions.  It  was  believed  by  them  that  at  the 
very  beginning,  and  amid  the  revelations  of  Mount  Sinai,  Jehovah 
had  declared  the  whole  earth  to  be  His  (Exod.  19.  5).  The 
first  of  the  Ten  Commandments  implied  the  same  doctrine.  The 
Jews  regarded  themselves  not  as  the  monopolists,  but,  rather,  as 
the  temporary  custodians  of  the  true  faith.  They  were  trustees, 
guardians,  executors,  holding  a  precious  legacy  for  the  benefit 
of  younger  brothers  not  yet  of  age.  They  desired  the  divine 
blessing  for  themselves  as  a  means  of  blessing  for  the  whole 
world.    "God  be  merciful  unto  us,  and  bless  us,  that  thy  way  may 


32  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

be  known  upon  earth,  thy  saving  health  to  all  nations."  They 
regarded  their  religion  as  universal  in  its  nature  and  destination. 
From  times  unknown,  it  was  understood,  believed,  and  gloried  in, 
that  in  Abraham's  seed  all  nations  of  the  earth  were  to  be  blessed. 
Thus  was  the  Jewish  religion  not  ethnic,  local,  limited,  but,  from 
the  very  dawn  of  its  distinct  and  proper  consciousness,  self-con- 
sciously and  professedly  universal  in  its  nature  and  possibilities. 

Nor  was  this  universality  merely  ideal ;  it  was  a  trait  which 
powerfully  affected  the  life.  From  the  days  when  Moses  said  to 
the  Kenite  Hobab,  "Come  with  us,  and  we  will  do  thee  good" 
(Num.  lo.  29),  to  the  time  when  Jesus  declared  to  his  country- 
men, "Ye  compass  land  and  sea  to  make  one  proselyte,"  this 
zeal  to  bring  all  nations,  in  God's  time  and  way,  into  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  privileges  of  their  own  religious  covenant  and  com- 
munion was  a  signal  characteristic  of  the  Hebrew  people.  In 
Rahab  and  Ruth  it  was  seen  that  converts  from  the  Gentile  na- 
tions could  be  promoted  even  to  a  place  in  the  royal  line  of 
promise.  In  the  I'salms,  in  Isaiah,  and  the  other  prophets,  one 
can  see  how  confidently,  yea,  how  longingly,  the  nation  looked 
forward  to  the  time  when  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  their 
lehovah  should  cover  the  whole  earth  ;  when  there  would  be  no 
further  need  of  proselyting  teachers,  no  man  needing  to  say  to  his 
brother,  "Know  thou  Jehovah" — all  knowing  him  already,  from 
the  least  unto  the  greatest.  How  perfectly  opposed  to  the  spirit 
of  every  ancient  ethnic  religion !  With  these  it  was  high  treason 
to  betray  to  neighboring  peoples  the  sacred  books,  dogmas,  or 
rites  of  the  ancestral  faith.  King  Tarquinius  of  Rome  caused 
Valerius  Soranus,  a  duumvir,  to  be  sewed  up  in  a  sack  and  thrown 
into  the  sea  for  the  crime  of  showing  to  Petronius,  a  Sabine,  a 
book  relating  to  the  Roman  religion. 

So  far,  indeed,  was  Old  Testament  religion  from  being  an 
ethnic  system  that  it  would  be  far  more  correct  and  scientific  to 
style  it  the  one  implacable  historic  antagonist  of  all  ancient  eth- 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGIOX  ^^ 

nicisms.  Ag-e  after  age  it  stood  a  perpetual  protest  against  them 
all.  Even  when  overthrown  and  enslaved  hy  surrounding-  powers, 
this  strange  people  still  confidently  foretold  the  fall  and  failure 
of  all  these  proud  religions  and  states.  Its  prophets  ridiculed, 
denounced,  and  doomed  to  destruction  the  mightiest  deities  of 
Egypt  and  Bahylon,  Phoenicia  and  Syria.  The  darker  the  present 
hecame,  the  brighter  and  nearer  seemed  to  them  the  "Day  of 
Jehovah,"  when  he  should  arise  to  shake  terribly  the  earth ;  when 
the  iddls  he  should  utterly  abolish. 

In  like  manner,  the  suggested  analogy  of  Christianity  to  the 
religious  systems  and  sects  which  have  originated  bv  way  of 
"revolt"  or  "reaction"  against  ethnic  religions  is  only  of  the 
most  superficial  and  outward  character.  It  has  no  basis  in  the 
real  essence  of  Christianity.  Reactionary  sects  and  their  svstems 
arise,  not  from  the  ri])ening  and  perfecting  of  the  essential  prin- 
ciples and  tendencies  of  the  parent  systems,  as  does  Christianity, 
but  from  the  opposition  of  principles  and  tendencies  antag- 
onistic to  the  traditional  religion.  Christianity  is  not  a  new  reli- 
gion ;  it  is  merely  a  completer  form  of  an  older.  If  we  are  to 
call  it  a  system  distinct  from  the  Jewish,  it  is  a  consummating, 
not  a  destroying,  system.  Jesus  declared,  "I  came  not  to  destroy, 
but  to  fulfill."  Judaism,  through  all  its  traceable  history,  expected 
to  flower  out  into  a  new  dispensation  upon  the  coming  of  the 
Promised  One.  Reactionary  religions  and  sects  reject,  abhor, 
and  demonize  the  gods  of  the  ancestral  worship,  but  Christians 
still  worship  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob.  Reactionarv 
systems  reject  and  destroy  the  teachings  and  sacred  books  of  the 
parent  system  ;  Christianity,  on  the  contrary,  reverently  retains 
and  hallows  all  revelations  and  scriptures  of  the  Old  Dispensa- 
tion. The  founders  of  reactionary  sects  and  systems  j)romulgate 
new  conditions  of  salvation  ;  in  Christianity,  on  the  contrarv.  the 
apostle  usually  counted  the  most  radical  and  innovating  of  all 
expressly  identifies  the  saving  faith  of  the  Christian  with  the  sav- 


34  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

ing  faith  of  Abraham  (Gal.  3.  7-29;  Rom.  4).  Even  on  its  own 
claims,  Christianity  is  to  Judaism  what  the  substance  is  to  the 
forecast  shadow  (Col.  2.  17;  Heb.  10.  i)  ;  what  a  message  from 
God's  Son  is,  compared  with  a  message  from  forerunning,  God- 
sent  messengers  (Matt.  21.  33-41;  Heb.  i.  i;  2.  4);  what 
adult  sonship  is  to  the  precedent  stage  of  tutelage  and  pupilage 
(Gal.  4.  1-7)  ;  what  the  full  corn  in  the  ear  is  to  the  ear  as  yet 
unfilled  (Mark  4.  26-29).  These  similes  all  go  to  show,  not  only 
that  there  is  a  recognized  principle  of  unity  underlying  the  suc- 
cessive dispensations  of  sacred  history,  but  also  that  this  unity 
is  positive,  organic,  and  institutional.  With  the  progress  of 
revelation,  divine  and  human,  the  form  has  changed,  but  the 
essence  has  remained  unchanged.  This  essence,  according  to 
its  own  persistent  representation,  is  the  kingdom  and  life  of  God 
in  enlightened,  renewed,  and  obedient  souls. 

In  yet  another  sense  this  progressive  World-Religion  is  en- 
titled to  its  name.  It  is  the  perpetual  heir  of  the  world's  divinest 
treasures  in  every  land.  It  embodies  and  expresses  the  power 
which  is  slowly  revealing  the  latent  meaning  of  human  history. 
In  Abraham  it  receives  and  carries  forth  from  Babylonia  the 
oldest  and  most  sacred  traditions  of  the  antediluvian  world. 
In  Moses  it  takes  possession  of  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians. 
At  Jerusalem  it  employs  the  best  art  of  the  world,  Phcenicia's,  to 
build  and  adorn  a  nobler  temple  than  ever  PhcEuicia  saw.  Even 
in  captivity  it  makes  the  proudest  Persian  conqueror  its  servant. 
For  its  sacred  books  it  borrows  the  matchless  tongue  of  Hellas ; 
for  schoolmasters  for  its  children,  the  princely  thinkers  of  Athens ; 
for  the  better  equipment  of  its  free-born  apostle,  the  citizenship 
of  Rome.  Its  field  is  the  world.  Conscious  of  a  divine  origin  and 
mission,  everywhere  at  home,  it,  and  it  alone,  has  shown  quali- 
fication to  overmaster  all  other  systems,  and  having  vitally  ap- 
propriated whatever  is  vital  in  them,  permanently  to  supplant 
them  all. 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  35 


Part  II.     History  of  the  Principal  Religions  Knoivn  to  the 
Mediceval  World. 

Since  the  fall  of  the  Ancient  World,  its  heir,  the  on-moving 
World-Religion,  has  more  than  ever  had  custody  and  guidance 
of  human  culture.  For  some  centuries  its  leading  instrument 
for  this  service  in  the  secular  sphere  was  the  scepter  of  the 
Roman  empire.  In  this  Christianized  dominion  more  than  any- 
where else,  and  more  than  ever  before,  the  prehistorically  dis- 
persed human  race  came  to  a  consciousness  of  its  unity.  The  old 
ethnic  ideals  fell,  never  to  rise  again.  Provincialism  in  religion, 
as  in  manners  and  modes  of  thought,  lost  caste.  Polytheism 
ceased  to  be  suited  to  the  cultivated;  it  was  fit  only  for  (pagani) 
rustic  villagers.  Purely  ethnic  philosophies  and  religions,  like 
ethnic  autochthonisms,  needed  no  learned  refutation ;  they 
simply  found  themselves  left  behind  in  the  forward  movement  of 
Humanity.  Under  a  redemptive  experience  of  the  All-Father- 
hood of  God,  men  of  the  most  diverse  tribes  and  tongues  quickly 
discerned  and  acknowledged  the  All-Brotherhood  of  Man.  A 
new  philosophy  of  the  world  and  of  its  history  burst  into  expres- 
sion in  Augustine's  "Civitas  Dei,"  then  hastened  forward  to 
fuller  and  even  more  immortal  utterance  in  Dante's  "Divina 
Commedia." 

With  the  progress  of  the  endogenous  growth  of  the  World- 
Religion  in  the  new  world-culture  during  this  period,  every  well- 
recognized  survival  of  the  elder  ethnic  systems  disappeared,  or 
was  given  a  new  and  higher  meaning.  In  the  progress  of  its 
exogenous  growth,  on  the  frontiers  of  the  monotheistic  world, 
new  ethnic  cults  were  discovered,  but  none  of  them  equaled,  either 
in  maturity  or  in  grade  of  culture,  the  great  ethnic  religions  of 
the  elder  world.  In  turn  these  fell,  and  at  the  close  of  the 
second  period  of  universal  history,  as  at  the  close  of  the  first,  the 


S6  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

renewedly   victorious   World-Religion   was    found    the   heir  and 
successor  to  all  that  had  been. 

In  the  order  of  the  following  chapters  the  new  forms  of  eth- 
nicism  belonging  to  the  period  are  successively  to  be  studied. 
In  all  cases  the  data  are  very  defective ;  but  here,  as  in  similar 
cases,  an  important  part  of  the  profit  of  historical  study  consists  in 
the  discovery  of  the  bounds  of  knowledge. 

CHAPTER  I 

History   of   reestablished   Zoroastrianism    in    the   new   kingdom   of   Persia 
under  the  Sassanidre. 

CHAPTER  II 
History  of  the  Religion  of  the  Celtic  Tribes. 

CHAPTER  HI 
History  of  the   Religion  of   the   Teutonic   Tribes. 

CHAPTER  IV 
History  of  the  Religion  of  the  Slavic  Tribes. 

CHAPTER  V 
History  of  the  Religion  of  the  West-Mongolians. 

CHAPTER  VI 
Continuation  of  the  History  of  the  World-Religion — the  monotheism  which 
in  Jewish,  Christian,  or  Mohammedan  form,  at  the  end  of  the  period, 
had  vitally  and  permanently  supplanted  all  the  foregoing. 


The  above  order  of  treatment  best  answers  to  the  historic 
movement  as  a  whole.  It  also  has  the  advantage  of  presenting 
Tslamism  in  its  true  historic  relations  on  the  one  hand  to  the  ethnic 
.systems  (see  above,  Chapter  III  on  page  30),  and  on  the  other 
to  Judaism  and  Christianity.     The  place  of  the  system  in  these 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  zl 

latter  relationships  can  best  be  seen  under  Chapter  \N  of  Part 
First  of  Division  Second  of  the  present  Book  (page  40),  and 
under  Part  Third  of  Division  First  of  Book  Second  (page  51). 

In  the  study  of  this  subordinate  type  of  the  World-Religion 
two  points  are  of  more  than  ordinary  scientific  as  well  as  practical 
interest.  First,  the  constant  testimony  borne  l)y  the  Koran  to  the 
divine  origin,  authority,  and  truth  of  the  Jewish  and  Christian 
Scriptures  of  the  ()ld  and  New  Testaments.  This  is  learnedly 
treated  by  Sir  William  Muir  in  his  little  work,  "The  Koran, 
Its  Composition  and  Teaching,  and  the  Testimony  It  Bears  to 
the  Holy  Scriptures."  In  this,  citing  the  original  Arabic  texts, 
he  examines  critically  each  of  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-one 
passages  of  the  Koran  referring  to  the  Bible,  or  quoting  from  it. 
He  thus  finds  and  shows  that  Mohammed  uniformly  assumes  the 
existence  and  currency  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  in  his 
time,  that  he  calls  them  the  Word  of  God,  that  he  attests  their 
inspiration  and  authority,  and  inculcates  upon  his  followers 
obedience  to  them. 

The  second  point  of  peculiar  interest  is  that,  while  Islamism 
claims  for  Mohammed  the  honor  of  being  the  latest  of  a  series 
of  twenty-five  great  prophets  who  have  formed  a  holy  succession 
from  Adam  downward,  and  while  it  gives  special  honor  to  Adam, 
Noah,  Abraham,  Aloses,  Jesus,  and  Mohammed,  as  chief  of  these 
twenty-five,  and  as  divinely  appointed  heads  of  successive  divine 
dispensations,  it  yet  remains  a  curious  fact  that  of  all  these  greater 
and  lesser  prophets,  Jesus  is  the  only  one  to  whom  the  Koran 
imputes  no  sin.  the  only  one  who  never  needed  the  pardoning 
grace  of  God.  That  Mohammed  was  a  sinner,  and  again  and 
again  needed  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  is  abundantly  taught  in 
such  passages  as  Sura  4.  104,  105;  40.  21;  48.  1-3;  93.  6,  7; 
no.  3. 

It  is  also  an  interesting  fact  that  all  Mohammedans  are  Sec- 
ond   Adventists    in    an    ap])roximately    Christian    sense    of    this 


38  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

term,  and  that  it  is  their  universal  heHef  that  we  arc  now  hving 
in  the  last  times.    Their  true  Mahdi  may  appear  at  any  hour. 

All  three  forms  of  the  one  World-Religion  strikingly  con- 
verge in  their  eschatology.  Jews,  Christians,  and  Moslems  teach 
an  almost  identical  view  of  a  resurrection,  world-judgment,  and 
world-renovation,  in  which  the  one  divinely  appointed  Mediator 
is  to  play  the  central  part.  In  Mohammedanism  this  final  Con- 
summator  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  among  men  is  held  to  be  not 
Mohammed  but  Jesus  Christ. 

In  studying  this  period  the  following  works  will  be  found  instructive : 
Harnack,  "The  Expansion  of  Christianity  in  the  First  Three  Centuries." 
Bigg,  "The  Church's  Task  under  the  Empire."  Uhlhorn,  "Conflict  of 
Christianity  with  Heathenism."  Merivale,  "Conversion  of  the  Roman 
Empire";  "Conversion  of  the  Northern  Nations."  Maclear,  on  the  same 
subjects.  E.  G.  Hardy,  "Christianity  and  the  Roman  Government." 
Milman,  "History  of  Latin  Christianity."  C.  L.  Bruce,  "Gesta  Christi." 
Gibbon,  "Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire." 

The  best  life  of  Mohammed  is  Muir's,  which  also  includes  a  brief 
history  of  Islam;  4  vols.,  London,  1858-1860.  There  is  also  a  condensa- 
tion in  one  volume.  Sale's  translation  of  the  Koran  has  held  a  place  oi 
honor  since  1734.  Rodwell's,  giving  the  Suras  in  chronological  order,  was 
published  in  1862;  E.  H.  Palmer's,  2  vols.,  1880.  Lane's  Selections  from 
the  Koran  is  a  valuable  compilation,  and  reached  a  second  edition  in  1879. 
The  most  accessible  Commentary  upon  the  Koran  is  that  by  E.  N.  Wherry; 
4  vols.,  London,  1885.  A  valuable  encyclopaedic  work  was  published  in 
1885  by  Hughes,  entitled  "A  Dictionary  of  Islam."  See,  also,  his  "Notes 
on  Mohammedanism."  Stanley  Lane  Poole  edited  a  little  work  in  1882, 
under  the  title  "The  Speeches  and  Table  Talk  of  Mohammed."  An  excel- 
lent text-book  in  small  compass,  is  "The  Faith  of  Islam,"  by  E.  Sell; 
London,  1882.  Useful  and  inexpensive  are  the  following:  Muir,  "The 
Koran,  Its  Composition  and  Teaching,"  London,  1879;  Stobart,  "Islam 
and  Its  Founder,"  London,  1877;  W.  St.  Clair-Tisdall,  "The  Religion  of 
the  Crescent,"  1895;  Henry  Preserved  Smith,  "The  Bible  and  Islam,"  1897. 
Macdonald,  "Aspects  of  Islam,"  1910;  and  his  "Development  of  Muslim 
Theology,"  1903.  On  the  early  progress  of  Mohammedanism,  see  Gibbon's 
"Decline  and  Fall,"  Chapter  L  and  onward  ;  also,  Ockley's  "History  of  the 
Saracens";  also,  Muir,  "Caliphate."  "The  Mohammedan  World,"  1907, 
is  a  recent  survey  of  Mohammednn  cmnitrics. 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  39 

Part    III.     History   of   the   Principal   Religions  of   the   World 
brought  to  Light  in  Modern  Times. 

Here  belong  all  those  successively  disclosed  by  the  progress 
of  modern  exploration  before,  during,  and  since  the  circumnavi- 
gation of  the  globe.  They  claim  the  attention  of  the  student  in 
the  following  order,  as  that  in  which  they  first  claimed  the  at- 
tention of  the  civilized  world  : 

I.     The  religions  of  the  West-Central  and  South  African 
Tribes. 
II.     The  religions  of  the  American  Indians. 
III.     The  religions  of  the  Pacific  Islanders. 
IV.     The    religions    of    the    East    India    Aborigines    and 
Hindus. 
V.     The   religions   of  the   aboriginal   and   present   popula- 
tions  of  Farther   India,   and  of   the   Islands  of  the 
Indian  Ocean. 
VI.     The  religions  of  the  Chinese,  Japanese,  and  Koreans. 
VII.     The     religions    of    the    North     and     Central    Asiatic 
Nomads. 
\TII.     The  still  advancing  World-Religion,  which,  chiefly  in 
its  Christian  form,  has  during  the  period  more  or  less  completely 
supplanted  the  foregoing  in  South  Africa,  in  North  and  South 
America,  in  the  chief  Islands  of  the  Pacific  and  Indian  Oceans ; 
which  has  taken  political  control  of  Africa,  Northern  and  South- 
ern Asia,  Australia,  New  Zealand,  the  whole  of  the  New  World  ; 
and  which  is  steadily  establishing  itself  in  every  unchristianized 
portion  of  the  globe. 

In  the  case  of  the  first,  second,  third,  fifth,  and  seventh  of  the 
above-mentioned  religions,  it  is  plainly  impossible  to  trace  their 
rise  and  historic  development.  The  data  are  entirely  lacking. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  religions  of  the  Hindus  and  Chinese 
present  historic    developments    full   of    interest   and   importance. 


40  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 


DIVISION    SECOND 

The   History  of  Developments   Common   to   Several   Par- 
ticular Religions 

The  lines  of  historic  investigation  presenting  themselves  under 
this  head  are  almost  numberless.  For  our  present  propaedeutic 
purpose  the  more  important  of  them  are  the  following: 

Part  I.     History  of  the  Rise  and  Development  of  Racial,  Na- 
tional, Tribal,  or  other  types  or  varieties  from  a  Religion 
originally  single. 

I.  The  Proto-Semitic  Religion  in  its  development  into  the 
historic  systems  of  Assyria,  Phoenicia,  the  Canaanites, 
etc. 
II.  The  Pre-Vedic  Proto-Aryan  Religion  in  its  development 
into  the  various  historic  systems  of  the  Indo-Germanic 
peoples. 

III.  Original  Buddhism  in  its  development  into  the  Ceylonese, 

Burmese,  Chinese,  Tibetan,  and  other  varieties. 

IV.  Earliest  Monotheism  in  its  development  into  the  existing 

systems  and  sects. 

Part  II.     History  of  the  Absorption  of  lesser  and  more  local 
Religions  into  greater  and  more  prevalent  Ones. 

Examples : 
I.     In  the  history  of  ancient  Babylonia. 
II.     In  the  history  of  ancient  Egypt. 

III.  In  the  history  of  the  Persian  Empire. 

IV.  In  the  history  of  the  Roman  Empire. 
V.     In  the  history  of  Buddhism. 

VI.     In  the  history  of  the  World-Religion. 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  41 

Part  III.     History  of  the  Rise  and  Development  of  various  Cults 
common  to  several  Particular  Religions. 
Here  belong  such  as  the  foUowing: 
L     Ancestor  and  hero-worship. 
II.     Light,  fire,  sun,  moon,  and  star  worship. 

III.  Worship  of  terrestrial  objects  (zoolatry,  phytolatry,  den- 

drolatry,  etc). 

IV.  Worship  of  spirits  shamanistically  conceived  of  by  their 

worshipers. 

Part  IV.     History  of  the  Rise  and  Development  of  particular 
Rites  and  Usages,  or  Institutions  common  to  several  Religions. 

Here  are  meant  such  as: 

I.     Animal  sacrifices,  and  religious  offerings  in  general. 
II.     Divination  in  its  various  forms. 

III.  Religious  tonsure ;  circumcision,  and  other  bodily  mutila- 

tions from  religious  motives ;  human  sacrifice. 

IV.  Religious  festivals ;  orgies  ;  pilgrimages  to  holy  places,  etc. 
V.     Priesthoods,  and  other  religious  orders. 

VI.     Temple  building;  sacred  art,  etc. 

Part  V.     History  of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  various  Speculative 
Movements   common   to   several  Religions. 

Here  are  meant  such  movements  as : 
I.     That  toward  speculative  theism. 
II.     That  toward  speculative  atheism. 

III.  That  toward  pantheism. 

IV.  That  toward  dualism. 
V.     That  toward  optimism. 

VI.     That  toward  pessimism. 
VII.     That  toward  casualism. 
VIII.     That  toward  fatalism. 


42  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

Part  VI.     History  of  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  z'arious  Practical 
Tendencies  common  to  different  Religions. 

Here  belong  such  tendencies  and  movements  as : 
I,     That  toward  hfeless  doctrinal  dogmatism. 
II.     That  toward  revolutionary   skepticism. 

III.  That  toward  religious  mysticism. 

IV.  That  toward  hierarchical   ceremonialism. 

V.     That  toward  eremitic  and  cenobitic  asceticism. 
VI.     That  toward  aggressive  proselytizing  or  persecuting  fa- 
naticism. 


DIVISION  THIRD 

The  History  of  Matters  Common  to  All  Religions,  or  the 
History  of  Religion  Universally  Considered 

The  imperfection  of  our  sources  renders  it  as  yet  impossible  to 
elaborate  in  a  really  satisfactory  manner  any  considerable  period 
or  even  branch  of  the  universal  history  of  religion. 

The  following  among  other  conceivable  lines  of  investigation 
suggest  in  a  rough  way  the  interest  and  the  immense  extent  of  the 
fieM: 

I.  A  synchronological  history  of  the  rise  and  development  of 
the  religions  of  the  world,  including  a  conspectus  of 
their  present  state,  geographically,  ethnologically,  and 
statistically  considered. 
IT.  History  of  the  actions  and  reactions  of  religions  upon  each 
other,  and  the  effects  thereof  upon  the  history  of  re- 
ligion universally  considered. 
HI.     History  of  religious  delusions  and  impostures. 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  43 

IV.     History  of  religion  viewed  as  a  disuniting  and  as  a  re- 
uniting   factor   in    the    ethnical   and   national   life   of 
humanity. 
V.     History  of  the  religious  conceptions  and  life  of  mankind 
set  forth  from  the  standpoint  of  professed  agnosticism. 

VI.     History  of  the  religious  conceptions  and  life  of  mankind 
set  forth  from  the  standpoint  of  the  World-Religion. 

At  this  point  the  History  of  Religions  introduces  and  gives 
place  to  the  Philosophy  of  Religion,  for  an  intelligible  history 
of  the  world's  religious  phenomena  as  a  whole  includes  of 
necessity  an  explanation  of  the  methods  in  which,  and  of  the 
reasons  on  account  of  which,  they  have  become  what  they  are, 
and  this  of  course  is  a  Philosophy  of  Religion-historically-con- 
sidered. 


BOOK  SECOND 


The  Religious  Phenomena  of  the  World  Systematically 

Considered 


(Hierography  General  and  Special;  or,  the  Phenome- 
nology OF  Religions  and  of  Religion) 


Introduction  to  the  Book. 

Division       I.     Systematic  Exposition  of  Particular  Religions. 

Division     II.     Systematic    Exposition   of   Matters    Common    to 
Several  Particular  Religions. 

Division  III.     Systematic   Exposition   of  Matters   Common   to 
All  Religions, 


INTRODUCTION 


In  the  preceding  Book  wc  have  had  to  do  with  rehgious  de- 
velopments as  processes ;  here  we  have  to  do  with  their  results. 
The  difference  is  well  illustrated  by  that  existing  between  the 
sciences  called  the  History  of  Christian  Doctrine  and  Didactic 
Theology.  While  the  cultivator  of  the  one  studies  the  genesis 
and  successive  modifications  of  a  particular  process  in  the  life 
of  the  Christian  Church,  the  cultivator  of  the  other  studies  the 
accomplished  result  of  the  same  process  at  a  particular  point 
of  time.  The  same  relation  exists  on  a  broader  field  between  the 
History  of  the  Surface  of  the  Earth  and  Geography.  In  each 
case  the  one  of  the  related  sciences  shows  us  the  origin  and  prog- 
ress of  a  historic  movement;  the  other,  the  attained  historic 
result.    The  one  is  profluent  in  character,  the  other  static. 

In  approaching  the  systematic  treatment  of  the  religious  phe- 
nomena of  the  world  as  a  whole,  the  first  questions  encountered 
are  those  relating  to  point  of  view,  classification  of  systems,  and 
order  of  treatment.  As  to  the  first  no  scholar  undertaking  work 
in  this  field  can  satisfy  his  readers,  or  even  himself,  if  in  advance 
of  his  exposition  he  have  not  personally  reached  what  seems  to 
him  the  true  point  of  view  for  the  understanding  of  the  facts 
he  is  about  to  present.  Of  such  points  of  view  three  have  found 
many  exponents — so  many  indeed  that  Jordan,  in  his  "Compara- 
tive Religion,"  Chapter  VII,  describes  them  as  constituting  three 
distinct  "schools."  The  first  of  these  make  "divine  Revelation" 
the  antecedent  of  all  human  experience  of  a  religious  character. 
The  second  hold  that  men  have  attained  to  such  religious  light 
and   experience   as   they   possess   through   a   process  of   "purely 

47 


48  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

natural  Evolution."  The  third — more  wisely— aim  to  harmonize 
the  truths  one-sidedly  emphasized  by  the  first  and  second  by  show- 
ing that  the  very  essence  of  religion  implies  a  mutual  activity  on 
the  part  of  the  Divine  Object  and  the  Human  Subject. 

The  classification  of  religious  systenis  for  the  purpose  of  sys- 
tematic exposition  should  be  primarily  based  on  the  order  of  their 
historic  succession.  Ancient  religions  should  be  presented  before 
the  modern.  So  in  those  cases  where  a  continuous  religious 
development  has  successively  culminated  in  systems  quite  distinct 
from  each  other,  these  successive  systems  should  also  be  ex- 
pounded in  the  same  order  in  which  they  appear.  Thus  in  the 
case  of  Hindu  religion,  the  Vedic  system  should  be  expounded 
before  the  Brahmanical,  the  Brahmanical  before  the  conglomer- 
ate system  now  prevalent.  The  reasons  for  such  adherence  to  the 
historical  order  are  too  obvious  to  need  enumeration. 

As  to  contemporary  religions,  ancient  or  modern,  several 
principles  of  classification  are  possible,  each  with  its  own  peculiar 
advantages.  For  example,  in  the  days  of  Tacitus  the  national 
religion  of  the  Germans  was  contemporary  with  a  great  number 
of  other  religious  systems ;  but  if,  in  classifying  the  religions  of 
that  date  with  a  view  to  lucid  exposition,  one  follow  the  principle 
of  ethnological  af^nity,  and,  accordingly,  study  and  exhibit  the 
Germanic  system  in  connection  with  the  related  mythologies  and 
rites  of  other  Indo-European  peoples,  Hindu,  Persian,  Greek, 
Roman,  Celtic,  Slav,  etc.,  the  task  will  be  greatly  simplified  and 
the  result  more  truly  scientific.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are 
often  found  groups  of  contemporary  religions  where  the  ethno- 
logical principle  of  classification  is  entirely  inapplicable.  The 
peoples  among  whom  they  are  found  are  so  mixed,  or  so  diverse 
as  to  race-character,  that  the  attempt  to  keep  race-peculiarities 
in  view  would  only  introduce  confusion.  The  ancient  Baby- 
lonians are  such  a  people ;  the  Egyptians  another ;  even  the 
Chinese,   in   the  broad   sense,  another.     Indeed,  so  rare   are  the 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  49 

instances  of  religious  systems  embodying  and  expressing  what 
may  be  called  race-ideas  and  race-tendencies  that  some  eminent 
writers  deny  their  existence  altogether,  and  affirm  that  all  his- 
toric forms  of  religion  should  be  scientifically  presented  in  their 
relation  to  nations — none  of  them  in  their  imagined  relation  to 
races.  If  this  view  be  thought  one-sided  and  extreme,  it  at  least 
has  the  merit  of  reminding  us  of  the  cases  where  the  national  or 
political  principle  of  classification  may  be  more  advantageously 
employed  than  anywhere  else ;  namely,  in  the  grouping  of  the 
contemporary  religions  of  ethnographically  mixed  peoples. 

For  a  statement  and  criticism  of  the  leading  classifications  of 
religions  proposed  by  recent  writers,  see  Jastrow's  work,  entitled 
"The  Study  of  Religion,"  Chapter  II,  pp.  58-128.  (The  classi- 
fication proposed  by  himself,  p.  117,  has  not  escaped  an  equally 
earnest  criticism  in  its  turn.) 


DIVISION  FIRST 

Particular  Religions  Systematically  Treated 

For  the  purpose  of  a  systematic  treatment,  the  grouping  of  the 
leading  religions  of  the  world  according  to  the  order  proposed  for 
their  historical  study  in  Book  I,  Division  T.  would  present  many 
advantages,  and  should,  perhaps,  have  the  preference  over  all 
others.  Should  one  desire  to  vary  it,  however,  it  might  be  found 
convenient  to  group  all  religions  in  the  following  classes : 

I.     The  Extinct  Ethnic. 
II.     The  Yet  Surviving  Ethnic. 
III.     The  Monotheistic   Systems. 

Adopting  this  classification,  the  present  Division  includes  three 
several  Parts. 


50  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

Part  I.     Systematic  Exposition  of  the  Chief  Extinct  Ethnic  Re- 
ligions of  the  World. 

The  exposition  should  include  not  only  their  conceptions  or 
doctrines,  but  also  their  religious  institutions,  rites,  customs, 
sacred  objects,  etc.     Here  belong,  among  others,  the  religions: 

I.  Of  the  Ancient  Babylonians  and  Assyrians. 

11,  Of  the  Ancient   Egyptians. 

III.  Of  the  Phoenicians,  Canaanites,  and  Arabians. 

IV.  Of  the  Greeks. 
V.  Of  the  Romans. 

VI.  Of  the  Celts. 

VII.  Of  the  Teutons. 

VIII.  Of  the  Slavs. 

IX.  Of  the  Mexicans. 

X.  Of  the  Peruvians. 

In  few  if  any  of  the  above  have  we  reason  for  believing  that 
the  religious  development  culminated  in  successive  systems  so 
distinct  and  separate  from  each  other  as  to  call  for  separate  de- 
scriptive treatment. 

Part    II.     Systematic   Exposition  of  the   CJiief   Living   Ethnic 
Religions  of  the  World. 

Here  belong,  among  others,  the  religions : 
I.     Of  the  Hindus. 

II.     Of  the  more  or  less  Buddhistic  populations  of  Eastern 
Asia. 

III.  Of  the  Parsees. 

IV.  Of  the  Barbarian  World. 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  51  • 

Part  III.     Systcviafic  Exposition  of  the  Chief  Successive  Forms 
of  the  cver-fonvard-looking  World-Religion. 

These  are,  of  course : 
I.     The  Hebrew  Form   (Ancient  Judaism). 
II.     The  ApostoHc    (Primitive   Christianity). 

III.  The  Oriental   Christian   Form    (Greek  Church). 

IV.  The  Arabian,  Judzeo-Christian   (Islam). 
V.     The  Latin  Christian    (Romanism). 

VI.     The  Teutonic   Christian    (Protestantism). 
VII.     The  fast  ripening  flower  and  fruit  of  all  historic  forms 
in  an  actualized  kingdom  of  God  on  earth. 


DIVISION  SECOND 

Systematic  Treatment  of  Matters  Common  to  Several 

Religions 

The  comparative  study  of  any  group  of  religions,  whether 
naturally  and  historically  related  or  arbitrarily  selected,  discloses 
certain  likenesses  and  unlikenesses  in  their  characteristic  concep- 
tions, beliefs,  and  usages.  These  resemblances  and  differences 
are  always  interesting  and  often  highly  instructive,  especially  as 
contributions  toward  a  true  Philosophy  of  Religion  and  a  true 
Philosophy  of  History.  Systematically  presented,  they  constitute 
Comparative  Theology,  properly  so  called. 


52 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 


Part  I.     Systematic  Exposition  of  Conceptions  common  to 
Various  Religions  selected  for  comparison. 

These  conceptions  may  be  most  lucidly  presented  in  two 
parallel  classes  in  parallel  columns,  the  first  of  which  relates  to 
monotheistic,  the  second  to  non-monotheistic,  religions : 


I.  Their  conceptions  of 
God. 

II.  Their  conceptions  of  the 
Creation  of  the  World. 

III.  Their      conceptions      of 
Angels  and  Men. 

IV.  Conception    of    the    one 
divine  Law,  and  of  Sin. 

V.  Divinely-sent       Teachers 
and  Prophets. 

VI.  Their      conceptions      of 
Salvation  from  Sin. 

VII.  Their     conceptions     of 
Death  and  of  the  Future. 


Theogonies      and 
Cosmogonies    and 


I.  Their 
Theologies. 

II.  Their 
Cosmologies. 

III.  Ethnic       Pneumatology 
(Metempsychosis,  etc.). 

IV.  Ethnic    views   of    Moral 
Obligation  and  of  Evil. 

V.  Self-attained        Seership, 
Buddhahood,  etc. 

VI.  Their  conception  of  De- 
liverance from  Evil. 

VII.  Their     conceptions     of 
Death  and  of  the  Future. 


Part  II.  Systematic  Exposition  of  the  EtJiical  Ideals  and  Moral 
Life  achieved  in  various  Religions  selected  for  Compari- 
son as  repects: 

I.  The  Duties  of  Piety. 

II.  The  Duties  of  Parents    and    Children. 

III.  The  Duties  of  Husbands  and  Wives. 

IV.  The  Duties  of  Masters  and  Servants. 
V.  The  Duties  of  Rulers  and  Subjects. 

VI.     The  Duties  of  Man  to   Beast. 
VII.     The  Duties  of  Man   to   Man. 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  53 

Part  III.     Systematic  Exposition  of  the  Laivs  and  Institutional 
Life  of  variotis  Religions  selected  for  Comparison. 

I.  Forms  of  Organization  and  Administration. 

II.  Laws  touching  Initiation,  Discipline,  etc. 

III.  Laws  touching  Rites  of  an  ordinary  or  periodic  character. 

IV.  Laws  touching  Rites    of    an    extraordinary    or    unique 

character. 
V.     Laws  relating  to   the   Priesthoods   exclusively. 
VI.     General  codes  of  religious  laws ;  Sacred  Books ;  relation 
of  the  Individual  to  the  Governing  Power  in  different 
religions,  etc. 


DIVISION  THIRD 

Systematic  Treatment  of  Matters  Common  to  All  Religions 

In  the  present  condition  of  knowledge  a  satisfactory  system- 
atic treatment  of  the  matters  common  to  all  religions  is  impos- 
sible. The  divisions  below  are  intended  only  as  suggestions  of 
what  would  be  desirable  if  practicable. 

Part  I.     Conceptions  Common  to  All  Religions. 

I.  Conceptions  of  the  Divine. 

II.  Conceptions  of  the  Origin   of  Things. 

III.  Conceptions  of  the  Origin  of  Man. 

IV.  Conceptions  of  the  Origin  of  Evil. 

v.     Conceptions  of  Deliverance  from  Evil. 
VI.     Conceptions  of  the  Highest  Good. 


54  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

Part  II.     Sentiments  Common  to  All  Religions. 

I.     The    sentiment    of    Dependence    upon    somewhat   extra- 
human. 
II.     The  sentiment  of  Obhg-ation    toward    that    extra-human 
somewhat. 

III.  Tlie  sentiment  of  moral    Self-approval    with    respect    to 

the  object  or  objects  of  religion. 

IV.  The  sentiment    of   moral    Self-reprobation    in    the    same 

respect. 
V.     The  sentiments   of    relig-ious    hope    and    fear;   trust    and 
distrust ;  love  and  hate,  etc. 

Part  III.     Practices  Common  to  All  Religions. 

I.     Practices    expressive    predominantly    of    religious    Self- 
surrender. 
11.     Practices    expressive    predominantly    of    religious    Self- 
assertion. 

In  the  foregoing  Division,  as  before  in  the  corresponding 
Division  Third  of  Book  I,  we  make  a  transition  to  a  branch  of 
the  Philosophy  of  Religion.  There  (p.  43)  we  saw  the  History 
of  Religious  Phenomena  universally  considered  merge  itself  into 
the  Philosophy  of  Religion-historically-considcred.  Here,  by  a 
like  inherent  necessity,  the  Systematic  Exposition  of  Religion- 
universally-considered  merges  itself  in  the  Philosophy  of  Reli- 
gion-systematically-considered. No  exposition  of  the  religious 
phenomena  of  the  world  as  a  whole  can  be  truly  and  completely 
systematic  that  does  not  make  clear  the  logical  interrelations  of 
all  and  the  rational  significance  of  all,  and  this  twofold  office  is 
the  task  of  the  Philosophy  of  Religion-systematically-considered. 
Thus  both  the  historic  and  the  systematic  procedures  prepare  the 
way  for  and  in  the  end  give  place  to  the  ])hilosophic. 


BOOK  THIRD 


The  Religious  Phenomena  of  the  World  Philosophically 

Considered 


(The  Philosophy  of  Religion) 


Introduction  to  the  Book. 

Division  I.  Philosophy  of  the  Object  of  ReHgion  and  of  His 
Manward  Self-revelation. 

Division  II.  Philosophy  of  the  Subject  of  Religion  and  of  His 
Godward  Self-revelation. 

Division  III.  Philosophy  of  the  Interrelations  of  Subject  and 
Object  in  the  Vital  Movement  of  the  World- 
Religion. 


INTRODUCTION' 


An  introduction  to  the  Philosophy  of  ReHgion  should  inckide 
at  least  the  following  topics: 

I.     The  Aim  and  Possibility  of  a  Philosophy  of  Religion. 
II.     The    Relation    of   the    Philosophy   of   Religion   to   other 
branches  of  Philosophy. 

III.  The  Relation  of  the  Philosophy  of  Religion  to  the  History, 

and  to  the  Systematic  Exposition  of  Religion. 

IV.  History,  Literature,  and  Present  State  of  the  Philosophy 

of  Religion. 
V.     Different  fundamental  Standpoints  and  Postulates  of  dif- 
ferent  Philosophies  of  Religion. 
VL     Plan  and  Method  of  treatment  demanded  by  the  present 
state  of  religious  knowledge  and  by  present  currents 
of  thought  and  life. 

A  word  respecting  each  must  take  the  place  of  fuller  exposition. 

Ad  prim  mil.  We  may  define  the  Philosophy  of  Religion  as 
that  synthesis  of  the  Philosophy  of  God  and  of  the  Philosophy  of 
]\Ian  and  of  the  Philosophy  of  their  natural  and  personal  relations 
in  which  all  facts  relative  to  the  attitude  and  bearing  of  each 
to  the  other  find  their  rational  explanation.    Its  aim  is  to  hamion- 


'  Our  most  elaborate  work  in  the  English  language,  entitled  an  "Introduction  to  the 
Philosophy  of  Religion,  is  that  by  Principal  John  Caird,  of  Glasgow  University,  published 
1880.  ihis.  however,  is  rather  an  outline  of  a  Philosophy  of  Religion  than  an  introduction 
D  ,'■'••  ,}il  ''  hrst  vindicates  the  possibility  and  propriety  of  a  philosophic  handling  of 
Religion  (Chapters  I-IIII;  then  treats  of  the  Necessity  of  Religion;  the  Proofs  of  the  Ex- 
istence of  God;  of  the  Religious  Consciousness;  of  the  Inadequacy  of  Religious  Knowledge 
n  ,'•  •  Unscientific  Form;  of  the  Transition  of  the  Speculative 'idea  of  Religion-  of  the 
Religious  Life  and  Relation  of  Morality  to  Religion;  and.  finally,  of  the  relatiori  of  the 
V  iilosophy  to  the  History  of  Religion  (Chapters  I\-X).  Under  none  of  the  above  heads 
is  the  branch  of  learning  to  which  the  author  proposes  to  introduce  us  defined  as  to  matter 
aim.  method,  or  its  relation  to  other  branches  of  human  investigation.  On  these  points' 
bowever,  more  than  any  other,  the  beginner  needs  to  be  enlightened. 

57 


SS  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

ize  and  unify,  and  thus  to  rectify  and  more  perfectly  interpret 
men's  conceptions  respecting  the  Subject,  Object,  and  Essence  of 
ReHgion.  Its  possibiHty  is  absokite,  so  far  as  facts  and  phenomena 
are  concerned ;  relative  and  limited,  however,  when  considered 
with  reference  to  our  limited  knowledge  and  limited  powers. 

Ad  secundum.  The  Philosophy  of  Religion,  being  the  synthesis 
of  the  philosophy  of  the  infinite  and  of  the  finite,  necessarily 
stands  at  the  summit  of  all  philosophic  disciplines,  crowning  and 
unifying  the  whole.  It  is  the  queen  of  all,  and  to  her  all  are  di- 
rectly and  logically  tributary. 

Ad  tcrtunn.  The  relation  of  the  Philosophy  of  Religion  to  the 
History  and  to  the  Systematic  Exposition  of  Religion  has  been 
briefly  but  perhaps  sufficiently  hinted  in  the  closing  remarks 
under  Book  I  and  Book  II  [pp.  43  and  54]. 

Ad  quartuui.  The  History  of  the  Philosophy  of  Religion  is  well 
presented  in  the  partially  translated  work  of  Piinjer.  The  student 
may  profitably  consult  Otto  Pfleiderer,  "Philosophy  of  Religion," 
vols,  i  and  ii. 

Ad  quintuin.  The  Philosophy  of  Religion  can  be  treated  from 
as  many  fundamentally  different  subjective  standpoints  as  any 
other  branch  of  philoso])hy.  Hence  we  must  be  prepared  to  see 
it  treated  by  the  most  varied  and  antagonistic  writers,  each  froiu 
his  own  peculiar  point  of  view :  agnostic,  sensationalistic,  ideal- 
istic, skeptic,  mystic,  eclectic,  etc.  And  of  this  religion  must  not 
complain ;  it  is  only  subject  to  the  same  fortune  as  befalls  all 
subjects  of  human  thought. 

But  besides  these  subjective  standpoints  there  are  also  certain 
objective  postulates  which  lead  to  treatments  fundamentally 
diverse.  Such  postulates  are  those  of  materialistic  monism,  ideal- 
istic monism,  undifTerentiated  monism,  those  of  various  forms 
of  dualism,  etc. 

Among  all  these  various  standpoints  and  postulates  it  is  the 
duty  of  every  writer  upon  the  Philosophy  of  Religion,  first,  to 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  59 

make  an  intelligent  and  conscientious  choice  ;  then,  having  chosen, 
to  define  and  vindicate  his  choice,  and  remain  logically  true  to  it. 

Ad  scxtiim.  On  the  proper  divisions  and  methods  of  a  Phi- 
losophy of  Religion  little  has  as  yet  been  written.  Nor  is  it  easy 
to  set  forth  any  single  distribution  of  the  matter  or  any  single 
method  for  its  treatment  that  can  claim  superiority  in  all  respects 
over  others.  For  since  every  related  group  of  religious  phe- 
nomena, however  small  and  however  isolated,  demands  at  the 
hands  of  the  interpreter  of  religion  a  rational  explanation,  it  is 
evident  that  this  department  of  study  can  be  divided  into  an  almost 
unlimited  number  of  constituent  branches,  and  that  these  are 
susceptible  of  almost  any  number  of  varying  arrangements,  com- 
binations, and  treatments,  according  to  one's  point  of  view  and 
according  to  one's  aim  in  the  total  construction.^ 

For  our  present  purpose  the  most  simple  and  lucid  procedure 
will  doubtless  be  to  present,  in  three  divisions,  the  Subject,  the 
Object,  and  the  Interrelations  of  the  Subject  and  Object  of 
Religion. 


DIVISION  FIRST 

Human  Personality  in  Its  Relation  to  the  Divine 

This  Division  includes  two  Parts :  the  first  conducting  to  the 
postulate  of  a  Divine  Personality,  and  the  second  to  that  in  which 
this  Divine  Personality,  when  perfectly  expressed,  ultimates. 

PART  I 

Human  Personality,  in  its  self-revelations,  implies  another  Per- 
sonality divinely  perfect. 


'  For  German  plans  see  works  on  "The  Ph  losophv  of  Relisjion"  by  Punier  (iS86);  R. 
Schultze  (I.SS6);  Teichmuller  (iSoS);  Von  Hirtinann  (iSSS);  Rauwenhoff  (iSSq);  Sydel 
(1S93);  Siebeck  (i>Sy3);  Krause  (1S93);  He,'e.  (Eng.  tr.  iSgj);  Runze  (igoi);  A.  Domer 
(1903)  I  Troeltsch  (lyo(').     Consult  also  the  New  Schaff-Herzog   Encyclopaedia,  sub  voce. 


6o  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

The  study  of  Man,  from  the  point  of  view  of  rehgion,  calls 
for  a  consideration  of  at  least  four  important  problems,  and  these, 
with  our  solutions,  may  be  formulated  as  in  the  following  sug- 
gested chapters,  to  wit: 

CHAPTER   I 
Nature  of  the  human  Subject?     (Ontological  Inquiry.) 

Outcome:  A  living  personality,  neither  self-originated  nor  self-sus- 
tained; needing,  therefore,  for  the  explanation  of  his  being  and  life  an 
adequate  antecedent  cause  or  combination  of  causes. 

CHAPTER  II 
What  causes  are  intimately  connected  with  the  origination  and  develop- 
ment of  each  human  subject?  (Etiological  Inquiry.) 
Outcome:  As  the  proximate  causes,  the  Parents  are  to  be  mentioned; 
as  remoter,  the  Race  which  produces  human  parents;  as  remoter  yet, 
the  Universe  of  finite  causes  which  produces  and  sustains  all  races  of 
animate  being.  Furthermore,  since  all  these  causes  interact  and  are 
mutually  preadjusted  for  cooperation  toward  ends  submoral  and  moral, 
this  preadjustment  itself  also  calls  for  an  adequate  cause. 

CHAPTER    III 

What  cause,  moral   or  submoral,  would  adequately  account  for  the  exist- 
ence  of   those   preadjusted    cosmic   and   human   energies   in   virtue   of 
whose  action  and  interaction  the  human  subject  is  produced  and  de- 
veloped in  character?     (Ethico-cosmical  Inquiry.) 
Outcome  :    No  cause  other  than  an  Intelligent  Will,  antedating  human- 
ity, and  continuously  expressing  itself  in  the  natural  and  ethical  environ- 
ment of  every  human  being. 

CHAPTER    IV 
What   more   adequately   than   anything   else    explains   the   purpose   of   the 
human  world,  and  especially  the  rational  significance  of  the  universal 
human    aspiration    after    fellowship    with    a    nonhuman    personality 
worthy  of  sincerest  worship?     (Teleological  Inquiry.) 
Outcome:    The   postulate    of   a   beginningless    and    endless    Personahty, 
working   from  ethical   aims,   and   effecting,  under   the   forms  of   time  and 
space,    a    perpetually    on-going    Self-manifestation    or    Self-revelation    of 
Himself,  in  and  unto  finite  intelligences. 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  6l 

PART  II 

The  Sdf-rcvclation  of  God  in  and  unto  Man;  issuing  in  the  postu- 
late of  a  Divine  Incarnation. 

The  Self-revelation  of  God  should  be  studied  with  reference  to 
its  primal  motive,  its  law,  its  possible  forms,  and  its  possible  con- 
summation. 

CHAPTER   I 
The  Source  or  primal  Motive  of  all  normal  Self-revelations. 

Outcome  :  Unselfish  love  the  only  worthy  Source  or  primal  Motive  of 
self-revelation  in  the  personal  sphere. 

CHATTEL    II 
The  Law^  of  all  normal  Self-revelation  of  God. 

Outcome :  All  self-revelations  of  the  Infinite  Personality  to  finite  one" 
are  modes  of  self-limitation  ;  on  the  contrary,  every  right  self-revelation 
of  the  finite  personality  to  the  Infinite  is  a  mode  of  emancipation  from 
self-limitations. 

CHAPTER    III 
Forms  of  the  Self-revelation  of  God. 

Outcome :  The  forms  of  the  self-revelation  of  God  are  determined 
partly  by  His  owrn  nature,  partly  by  the  counterbearing  of  those  for 
whom  the  revelation  is  designed. 

CHAPTER    IV 
The  Self-revelation  of  God  as  affected  by   pious   forms   of   self-surrender 
on  the  part  of  Man. 
Outcome :      The    receptiveness    and    responsiveness    of    a    man    at    any 
moment  the  gauge  of  the  present   possibilities  of  God's  self-revelation  to 
that  man,  but  not  the  gauge  of  future  possibilities. 

CHAPTER   V 
The  Self-revelation  of  God  as  affected  by  inrpious  forms  of  self-surrender 
on  the  part  of  Man. 
Outcome:    The   unreceptiveness   and  irresponsiveness   of  a   man   at   any 
moment  the  gauge  of  the  present  barriers  to  God's  self-revelation  to  that 
man,  but  not  the  gauge  of  future  barriers. 


62  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

CHAPTER   VI 
God's  Self-revelation  to  Man  in  its  intensive  Perfection. 

Outcome:  The  self-revelation  of  God  to  Man  can  reach  intensive  com- 
pletion only  in  a  divine  Incarnation  (God  personally  becoming  a  partaker 
of  man's  nature). 

CHAPTER   VII 
God's  Self-revelation  in  its  extensive  Perfection. 

Outcome:  The  self-revelation  of  God  to  Man  cannot  be  conceived  of 
as  ever  attaining  extensive  completion.  This  would  require  not  only  the 
conception  of  a  completed  Humanity,  but  also  that  of  a  finished  activity 
on  the  part  of  God. 


DIVISION  SECOND 

The  Divine  Personality  in  Its  Relation  to  the  Human 

This  Division  includes  two  Parts:  the  first  conductin.c:  to  the 
postulate  of  human  Personalities,  and  the  second  to  that  in  which 
human  personahty,   when  perfectly  self-expressed,  ultimates. 

PART  I 

The  Divine  Personality,  in  its  self-revelations,  imphes  other 
personahties  hiunanly  imperfect. 

The  study  of  God,  from  the  point  of  view  of  religion,  calls 
for  a  consideration  of  at  least  four  important  problems,  and  these, 
with  our  solutions,  may  be  formulated  as  in  the  following  sug- 
gested chapters,  to  wit : 

CHAPTER   I 
Assuming  that  God  is  the  living  and  ever-living  Personality  described  in 
the  Division  just  outlined,  and  that  the  nature  and  forms  of  his  self- 
manifestation  are  as  there  set  forth,  what  explanation  can  be  given  of 
the  existence  and  wide  prevalence  of  Polytheism? 
Outcome:    The  variety  in  human  capacity   for  the  apprehension  of  the 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  63 

divine  must  not  be  forgotten.  So  long  as  men  radically  differ  in  their 
conceptions  of  the  world,  and  of  human  nature  itself,  we  need  not  be 
surprised  that  they  also  differ  as  to  the  number,  and  even  as  to  the  nature 
of  the  proper  objects  of  worship. 

CHAPTER    II 

But  if  men  differ  so  utterly  in  their  conceptions  of  their  own  nature,  and 
of  the  world  in  which  they  live,,  and  as  to  the  number  and  nature  of 
the  beings  entitled  to  worship,  what  unitary  ground  can  there  be  war- 
ranting us  in  classifying  all  religions  as  species  or  varieties  of  one 
genus  ? 

Outcome:  Men  are  not  unrelated  units,  but  a  race — one  race — and  all 
religionists  hold  that  there  is  but  one  normal  bearing  for  the  worshiper 
to  observe  over  against  the  being  or  beings  he  worships ;  this  bearing 
being  one  of  personal  loyalty  and  sincere  good  will.  In  this  fundamental 
doctrine  polytheist  and  monotheist  stand  upon  common  ground. 

CHAPTER    III 

But  in  case  there  has  been  in  any  worshiper,  in  any  land,  a  conscious 
lack  of  personal  loyalty  and  good  will  toward  the  being  or  beings 
worshiped,  what  is  the  result  as  shown  in  universal  human  ex- 
perience ? 

Outcome:  The  prime  result  is  a  sense  of  personal  guilt  in  the  mind  of 
the  offender,  and  an  impulse  toward  effort  for  deliverance  from  the  guilt. 
Moreover,  in  the  mind  of  such  a  worshiper  there  is  never  an  expectation 
of  deliverance  by  any  subjective  process  or  act  limited  to  his  own  con- 
sciousness— he  believes  that  the  author  or  custodian  of  the  obligation 
violated  must  have  a  part  in  the  restoration  of  normal  relations. 

CHAPTER    IV 

What  more  adequately  than  anything  else  explains  the  unity  and  the 
multiformity  of  God's  self-manifestations  in  the  field  of  religion? 
Outcome:  The  postulate  of  a  Race  of  genealogically  cohering,  indi- 
vidually and  cooperatively  self-actualizing  personalities,  working  from 
ethical  and  unethical  •aims,  and  effecting,  under  the  forms  of  time  and 
space,  a  perpetually  on-going  self-manifestation  or  self-revelation  of 
itself  and  of  its  constituent  personalities  in  and  unto  God. 


64  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 


PART  II 

The  Self-revelation  of  Man  in  and  unto  God;  issjting  in  the  postu- 
late of  a  human  Indirination. 

Unlike  that  of  God,  the  self-revelation  of  a  man  is  twofold, 
normal  and  abnormal.  Some  of  his  forms  of  self-assertion  are 
pious,  some  are  impious.  The  philosophy  of  the  total  revelation 
must  include  the  one  class  as  fully  as  the  other. 

Again,  human  self-manifestations  are  more  than  the  term  im- 
plies. They  not  only  show  what  the  self  now  is,  but  also  help 
to  determine  what  the  self  is  hereafter  to  be. 

CHAPTER   I 

Sin  as  a  mode  of  Self-revelation. 

Outcome:  While  unselfish  love  should  be  the  primal  motive  in  all  self- 
revelation,  selfish  love  is  the  primal  motive  in  this. 

CHAPTER    II 

The  Law  of  sinful  Self-revelation. 

Outcome:  The  self-revelation  being  an  unnatural  one,  its  law  is  also 
unnatural :  the  revelation  follows  a  law,  not  of  emancipation,  but  of  en- 
slavement to  unnatural  self-limitations. 

CHAPTER   III 

Forms  of  sinful  Self-revelation. 

Outcome :  The  forms  of  the  sinful  self-revelation  of  men  are  deter- 
mined partly  by  their  own  nature,  partly  by  the  counterbearing  of  Him 
against  whom  these  self-revelations  are  directed. 

CHAPTER    IV 
Holy  living  as  a  mode  of  Self-revelation  on  the  part  of  Man. 

Outcome  :  Here  man  reaches  the  primal  motive  of  God's  self-revelation, 
a  pure  and  unselfish  love. 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  65 

CHAPTER   V 
The  Law  of  holy  Self-revelation. 

Outcome :  Here  man  comes  under  the  blessed  law  of  progressive 
emancipation  from  self-limitations,  and  constantly  increasing  assimilation 
to  God. 

CHAPTER   VI 
Forms  of  holy  Self-revelation  on  the  part  of  Man. 

Outcome:  Every  pious  self-assertion  on  the  part  of  man  calls  out  new 
self-revelations  on  the  part  of  God,  and  so  renders  possible  new  degrees 
and  forms  of  holy  self-revelation  on  man's  part,  and  all  this  in  indenmte 
successions  of  action  and  reaction. 

CHAPTER   VII 
Man's  Self-revelation  in  and  unto  God  in  its  intensive  Perfection. 

Outcome :  The  self-revelation  of  Man  in  and  unto  God  can  reach  inten- 
sive completeness  only  in  a  human  Indivination  (Man  personally  becom- 
ing a  partaker  of  the  divine  nature). 

CHAPTER   VIII 
Man's  Self-revelation  in  and  unto  God  in  its  extensive  Perfection. 

Outcome :  The  self-revelation  of  Man  in  and  unto  God  cannot  be  con- 
ceived of  as  ever  attaining  extensive  completion.  This  would  require  not 
only  the  conception  of  a  completed  Humanity,  but  also  that  of  a  finished 
activity  on  the  part  of  the  deathless  sons  of  God. 


DIVISION  THIRD 

The  past,   present    and  future  Interrelations  of  Object 
AND  Subject  as  determined  and  perpetually  redeter- 
mined in  the  one  vital  historic  movement  or 
PROCESS  of  the  World-Religion 

We  here  face  the  sum  total  of  the  reHs^ious  phenomena  of  the 
world.  All  these  phenotnena  both  imply  and  illustrate  in  one 
or  more  aspects  the  interrelation  of  God  and  man  at  one  or  more 
points  in  the  historic  process  of  the  World-Religion. 


66  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

•     PART  I 

The  Interrelations  of  God  and  Man  as  seen  in  the  Ideal. 

This  may  be  presented  in  various  aspects,  as  in  the  following 
chapters : 

CHAPTER   I 

Intellectual  Interrelation  as  determined  by  ideally  perfect  reciprocal  Self- 
revelations  on  the  part  of  God  and  Man. 
Outcome:    Ideally  perfect  intellectual  intercommunion  of  God  and  Man. 

CHAPTER   II 

Emotional  Interrelation  as  determined  by  ideally  perfect  reciprocal   Self- 
revelations  on  the  part  of  God  and  Man. 
Outcome:    Ideally  perfect  intercommunion  of  feeling  between  God  and 
Man. 

CHAPTER    III 

Volitional   Interrelation   as  determined  by  ideally  perfect   reciprocal   Self- 
revelations  on  the  part  of  God  and  Man. 
Outcome:    Ideally  perfect  intercommunion  of  will  and  purpose  between 
God  and  Man. 

CHAPTER    IV 
The  Ideal  Interrelations  in  their  vital  unity. 

Outcome:  Since  the  ideally  perfect  self-revelation  of  God  culminates 
in  a  divine  Incarnation,  and  the  ideally  perfect  self-revelation  of  Man 
culminates  in  a  human  Indivination,  the  ideally  perfect  Interrelations  of 
God  and  Man  in  their  vital  unity  are  presented  in  no  other  religion  than 
in  the  World-Religion,  and  in  no  other  consciousness  than  that  of  the 
God-man. 

CHAPTER    V 

Review  of  the  Religions  of  the  World,  the  ancient  and  the  modern,  in  the 
light  of  ideally  perfect  Religion. 


'    AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  67 

PART   II 

The  Interrelations  of  God  and  Man  as  given  in  Christian 
Conscionsness. 

In  proportion  as  the  self-revealing  man  comes  to  a  clear  per- 
ception of  the  self-revealing  God,  in  like  proportion  does  he  be- 
come conscious  of  an  interrelation  subsisting  between  himself 
and  God.  In  case  his  own  self-revelation  is  proceeding  from  an 
unholy  principle,  he  is  conscious  that  the  relation  between  him- 
self and  the  holy  God  is  one  of  vital  estrangement  and  opposition. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  his  own  Godward  bearing  of  mind  and  will 
and  affection  is  the  normal  response  of  the  creature  to  the  care 
and  benevolence  and  affection  of  his  Creator,  the  mutual  personal 
Verhahen  results  in  a  mutual  personal  J^crhaltniss  as  normal  and 
blessed  as  the  activities  from  which  it  ])roceeds  and  by  which  it 
is  maintained.  And  this  relationship  of  intercommunion  and  fel- 
lowship is  more  truly  and  vitally  a  matter  of  consciousness  than 
can  be  a  like  relationship  between  two  most  intimate  sharers  in 
a  human  friendship. 

The  actual  interrelations  of  a  particular  human  soul  and  God 
are  normal  in  proportion  as  they  approximate  the  above-defined 
ideal. 

The  evolution  of  the  Christian  Consciousness  has  often  been 
misrepresented.  It  differs  in  dift"erent  persons— differs  with  re- 
spect to  the  successional  order  of  experiences,  and  with  respect 
to  sudden  or  slow  attainments  of  insight.  It  is  in  all  cases  a 
divine-human  product,  but  many  things  are  true  of  it  in  its 
maturity  that  are  not  true  of  it  in  earlier  stages.  Many  teachers 
have  failed  to  represent  it  correctly  because  of  a  failure  on  their 
part  to  perceive  the  dependence  of  one  spiritual  perception  or 
experience  upon  another,  or  upon  a  preceding  group.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  construct  a  description  of  the  process  which  shall  cover 
all  cases  in  all  stages  of  earthly  development,  but  the  following 


68  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

covers  at  least  a  typical  case,  and  gives  due  prominence  to  the 
proportionality  of  one  element  to  another  in  the  ever-growing 
result : 

1.  In  order  to  the  ultimate  attainment  of  complete  self-knowl- 
edge, and  in  order  to  the  acquisition  of  the  power  to  pass  just 
judgments  upon  himself,  every  human  being  in  the  process  of 
his  development  from  infancy  to  maturity  of  reason  has  need  of 
instruction  from  some  source  apart  from  himself. 

2.  In  proportion  as  the  developing  human  being,  aided  by  true 
and  wholesome  instruction,  becomes  competent  to  form  just  judg- 
ments relative  to  his  own  physical,  mental,  and  spiritual  activities 
and  qualities,  in  like  proportion  does  he  come  to  recognize  the 
fact  that,  judged  even  according  to  his  own  ideals,  he  is  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent  culpably  defective  and  imperfect — a  being 
who,  with  more  or  less  of  voluntary  consent,  practically  comes 
short  of  the  possible  perfections  of  his  own  life  and  character. 

3.  In  proportion  as  the  instructed  and  developing  human  being, 
perplexed  by  this  discovery,  struggles  to  comprehend  the  nature 
and  implications  and  sanctions  of  his  own  ideals,  and  in  conduct 
strives  with  redoubled  earnestness  to  measure  up  to  the  best  possi- 
bilities of  his  being,  in  like  proportion  does  he  become  conscious 
of  the  presence  and  agency  of  an  environing  Personality  all  per- 
fect and  holy,  a  God  in  whom  he  lives  and  moves  and  has  his 
being. 

4.  In  proportion  as  the  instructed  and  developing  human  being 
attains  this  consciousness  of  God  and  of  his  own  natural  and 
personal  relations  to  God,  in  like  proportion  does  he  come  to 
perceive  that  his  own  capacities  for  improvement  are  God-given, 
and  that  all  instruction  in  or  toward  a  holy  development — what- 
ever the  name,  or  nature,  or  means  of  that  instruction — is  a 
form  of  Divine  Revelation. 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  69 

5.  In  proportion  as  the  instructed  and  developing  human  being 
is  thus  brought  to  discern  the  manifoldness  and  continuousness 
of  Divine  Revelation,  in  like  proportion  does  he  come  to  recog- 
nize the  fact  that  all  history  and  all  reality  are  but  modes  of  a 
perpetual,  all-inclusive  Self-manifestation  of  the  Divine. 

6.  In  proportion  as  the  instructed  and  developing  human  being 
is  brought  to  this  perception  of  the  perpetually  and  universally 
progressing  Self-manifestation  of  God,  in  like  proportion  does 
he  come  to  expect  in  human  nature  and  in  the  human  sphere  possi- 
bilities and  instances  of  divine  disclosure  superior  to  any  else- 
where discoverable. 

7.  In  proportion  as  the  instructed  and  developing  human  being 
thus  comes  to  expect  in  human  nature  the  highest  known  or  as 
yet  knowable  forms  of  God's  Self-manifestation,  in  like  propor- 
tion does  he  reach  the  assured  conviction  that  in  God's  eternal 
purpose  humanity  was  intended  to  be  an  organ  of  the  Divine, 
and  that  in  the  historic  ripening  of  God's  purpose  in  and  through 
the  agencies  of  his  temporal  kingdom  there  shall  ultimately  come 
to  be  a  redeemed  and  renovated  humanity,  faultlessly  expressive 
of  the  divine  holiness,  a  habitation  of  God  through  the  Spirit. 

8.  In  proportion  as  the  instructed  and  developing  human  being 
inspired  by  such  an  anticipation,  searches  through  history  to  dis- 
cover any  foretokens  of  this  consummation  of  all  things  in  a  divin- 
ized humanity,  and  especially  to  discover  any  individuals  in  whom 
the  divinizing  process  may  seem  to  have  been  anticipated  and 
measurably  foreshown,  in  like  proportion  does  he  come  to  fix  upon 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  as  the  one  man  in  whom  the  divine  indwelling 
and  outshining  are  apparently  complete — the  one  man  best  en- 
titled to  be  considered  an  archetype  of  perfected  humanity. 

9.  In  proportion  as  the  instructed  and  developing  human  being, 
moved  bv  the  sense  of  his  own  culpable  imperfections,  and  by  the 
inworkings  of  his  divine  environment,  cordially  surrenders  him- 


10  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

self  to  the  divine  activities  and  lovingly  strives  to  become  an 
oi-o-anic  yet  most  personal  part  of  God's  Self-manifestation 
in  humanity,  in  like  proportion  does  he  find  his  personal  ideals, 
aspirations,  and  activities  coming  into  living  conformity  with 
those  historically  exemplified  in  Christ  Jesus. 

ID.  In  proportion  as  the  instructed  and  developing  human  being 
advances  in  this  progressive  conformity  of  ideals,  aspirations,  and 
activities  to  the  ideals,  aspirations,  and  activities  of  Jesus  Christ, 
in  like  proportion  does  he  become  a  living  and  more  or  less  con- 
scious partaker  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  the  Comforter,  who, 
according  to  promise,  is  given  to  guide  into  all  truth. 

11.  In  proportion  as  the  instructed  and  developing  human  being 
thus  becomes  a  living  and  conscious  partaker  of  Christ's  Spirit, 
in  like  proportion  does  he  become  conscious  of  a  vital  personal 
relation  to  all  other  partakers,  and  to  that  spiritual  Kingdom  or 
Church  which  these,  together  with  their  Head,  vitally  and  organic- 
ally constitute  in  the  unity  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

12.  Finally,  in  proportion  as  the  instructed  and  developing 
human  being,  in  his  progressive  unfoldment,  in  one  order  or 
another,  passes  up  through  these  various  steps  and  stages  of  the 
spiritual  life — and  duly  in  that  proportion — does  he  obtain  a  cor- 
rect, a  truly  rational  and  real,  insight  into  the  nature,  extent,  and 
deadliness  of  sin,  into  the  nature  and  need  of  an  atonement,  into 
the  beauty  of  holiness,  into  the  conscious  blessedness  of  the  life 
in  God  and  of  the  life  in  the  everlasting  fellowship  of  God's 
children. 

To  the  foregoing  theses  every  Christian  teacher  in  the  world 
can  consistently  and  cordially  subscribe.  And  whoever  in  his 
own  experience  has  come  to  all  the  insights  above  mentioned, 
and  lives  in  the  light  of  them,  is  certainly  to  be  called  a  Christian. 
But  a  Christian  of  the  broadest  and  most  radical  character  can- 
not rest  at  this  point.    He  finds  in  these  propositions  no  consistent 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  7i 

and  satisfying  philosophy  of  three  fundamental  Christian  truths, 
to  wit:  (i)  the  universality  of  human  sin;  (2)  the  sinlessness  of 
lesus  Christ;  and  (3)  the  unity  of  that  God  into  whose  three 
divine  names  each  Christian,  in  professing  his  faith,  must  be 
baptized.  The  great  mass  of  thoughtful  and  earnest  Christians, 
therefore,  reacl^  and  in  all  past  Christian  centuries  have  reached, 
additional  convictions  and  insights  on  these  points.  But  here, 
as  before,  the  law  under  which  insight  is  gained  is  a  law  of  pro- 
portion, a  law  which  may  be  approximately  expressed  in  the 
three  following  propositions : 

I.  In  proportion  as  the  instructed  and  developing  Christian 
learns  to  recognize  the  real  solidarity  of  all  naturally  engendered 
human  individuals,  and  their  ideal  solidarity  in  the  one  primal 
purpose  and  plan  of  the  Creator  to  constitute  them  together  one 
vitallv  interwoven,  organic  species  or  form  of  divine  Self-mani- 
festation, in  like  proportion  does  he  come  to  the  perception  that  a 
free  and'  thoroughgoing  self-closure  of  the  earliest  human  be- 
ings to  divine  intluence  through  sin  could  not  fail  to  entail  upon 
propagated  human  nature  blindnesses  and  blights  as  far-reaching 
as  the^'line  of  human  generations— a  self-centeredness  of  heart  and 
will  as  hateful  as  hate  and  as  deadly  as  death ;  and  that,  philo- 
sophically considered,  the  universality  of  sin  in  the  experience 
of  all  peoples  and  ages  must  tind  its  deepest,  its  most  rational, 
explanation  in  something  resembling  the  biblical  doctrine  of  a 
primeval  fall  of  man. 

2.  In  proportion  as  the  instructed  and  (leveloi)ing  Christian 
comes  to  see  in  and  back  of  all  individual  sin  a  universally  trans- 
mitted, everywhere  present  race-characteristic— an  inbred  self- 
centeredness  of  will  and  aiTection  which,  so  long  as  unchecked  by 
outside  powers,  effectually  distiualifies  the  individual  and  the  race 
for  their  normal  function  of  receiving  and  joyously  manifesting 
forth  the  indwelling  of  Divinity— in  like  proportion  docs  he  come 


72  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

to  the  perception  that  the  supreme  need  of  fallen  liumanity  can 
have  been  no  other  than  a  creative  reopening  of  itself  to  the  divine 
incoming,  and  that  the  incarnation,  or,  better,  the  Menschzuerdung, 
of  God's  Eternal  Son,  and  the  mission  of  the  Comforter,  consti- 
tute, as  the  New  Testament  teaches,  the  one  all-sufficient  and 
most  gracious  response  of  God  to  this  necessity  of  his  human 
creatures. 

3.  In  proportion  as  the  instructed  and  developing  Christian, 
pondering  the  mysteries  of  speculative  Theism  and  the  relieving 
disclosures  of  biblical  revelation,  comes  to  apprehend,  on  the  one 
hand,  the  inconceivableness  of  a  unipersonal  Absolute,  and  on 
the  other  the  triunity  of  the  historic  Self-manifestation  of  God 
in  and  through  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  like 
proportion  will  his  strained  and  almost  baffled  mind  find  growing 
relief  and  restful  delight  and  holy  confidence  in  some  approxima- 
tion, if  not  in  full  adhesion,  to  some  form  of  the  general  Christian 
doctrine  of  the  Holy  Trinity. 

The  above  statements  illustrate  not  only  the  growth  of  the 
Christian  Consciousness,  but  also  the  fluency  and  growthfulness 
of  the  interrelations  of  the  soul  and  God. 

A  full  presentation  of  the  Philosophy  of  the  Christian  Con- 
sciousness would  require  the  elaboration  of  at  least  the  following 
chapters : 

CHAPTER   I 
Of  Consciousness  in  general,  and  the  self-evident  Validity  of  its  Deliver- 
ances. 

CHAPTER    II 

The  Legitimacy,  Indispensablencss.  and  Scientific  Value  of  the  Testimony 
of  Consciousness  in  the  realm  of  subjective  religious  Activities  and 
Results. 

CHAPTER    HI 

The  Contents  of  the  genuinely  Christian  Consciousness. 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  IZ 

CHAPTER    IV 
Conceivability  and  Credibility  of  a  concurrent  divine  and  human  witness- 
ing to  an  existing,  or  non-existing,  personal  Fellowship  between   the 
Soul  and  God. 

CHAPTER   V 

The  absolute  verifying  Force  of  the  Testimony  of  the  Christian  Conscious- 
ness when  individually  possessed. 

CHAPTER   VI 
The  necessary  Skepticism,  or  Liability  to  Skepticism,  of  all  men  not  pos- 
sessed of  the  self-evidencing  light  of  Consciousness  touching  personal 
Fellowship  with  God. 

CHAPTER   VII 

The    Christian    Consciousness  of   the   Individual   as    related   to   the  larger 
Christian  Consciousness  of  the  true  Church  of  Christ. 

PART  III 

The  Interrelations  of  God  and  Man  as  determined  and  ever  rede- 
termined in  the  historie  life  of  the  World-Religion. 

The  interrelations  of  God  and  himianity  in  history  have  never 
for  two  sticcessive  moments  remained  fixed  and  nnahered.  Since 
their  beginnin.q-  the  flow  of  God's  Self-revelation  and  the  flow  of 
Man's  Self-revelation  have  been  incessant.  With  each  new  heart- 
beat humanity  itself  becomes  other  than  it  was.  Equally  mutable 
and  transmutable  must  be  that  vital  relationship  in  which  and 
under  which  the  twain  activities,  the  divine  and  human,  endlessly 
persist. 

Whoever  in  his  own  personal  consciousness  has  known  the 
abnormal  relationship  of  blind  hostility  to  God.  and  now  in  his 
own  consciousness  knows  the  blessedness  of  an  established  and 
ever-growing  fellowship  with  God,  has  little  difficulty  with  the 
problems  of  humanity's  religious  history.  His  own  childhood 
typifies  to  him  the  childhood  of  his  race.  His  own  debasing 
paganisms  fully  interpret  to  him  the   most  debasing  paganisms 


74  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

of  mankind.  Himself  miraculously  newborn  of  God,  the  miracu- 
lous birth  at  Bethlehem  is  more  than  credible.  Himself  possessor 
of  the  Holy  Comforter,  the  spiritual  history  of  the  living  Church 
would  be  to  him  a  mystery  but  for  its  outstart  from  a  world- 
historic  Pentecost. 

Again,  to  such  a  man,  philosophies  of  history  that  ignore  or 
reject  the  divine  factor  are  self-refuted  in  advance.  He  sees  that 
in  proportion  as  the  divine  coefficient  is  overlooked  the  human  is 
misconceived  and  distorted.  History  being  the  result  of  divine 
activity  in  and  through  men,  and  at  the  same  time  of  men's 
activity  in  and  through  Deity,  a  consistently  atheistic  philosophy 
of  history  is  as  little  conceivable  as  is  a  consistently  ananthropistic. 

The  normal  interrelations  of  God  and  man  being  found  only 
in  those  souls  in  whom  the  divine-human  fellowship  and  life  have 
been  reestablished,  it  is  only  natural  that  the  true  knowledge  of 
these  interrelations  is  found  only  with  these  souls  and  with  those 
whom  they  have  instructed.  Furthermore,  it  is  only  natural  that 
all  those  who  hold  this  knowledge  merely  as  a  matter  of  instruc- 
tion should  hold  it  as  they  hold  other  matters  of  human  testimony  ; 
that  is,  not  as  genuine  knowledge,  but  at  best  only  as  a  theoretical 
and  more  or  less  questionable  belief. 

The  genuine  knowledge  of  the  normal  divine  and  human  rela- 
tionship is  alone  with  them  that  stand  in  it,  and  stand  in  it  con- 
sciously. The  majority  of  them  are  dwelling  in  the  heavenly 
places.     Even  with  these  it  is  a  growing  knowledge. 

From  the  days  of  the  God-man  the  World-Religion  has  been 
teaching  that  there  has  been  in  the  j^rogress  of  historv  a  certain 
succession  of  exceptionally  important  modifications  in  the  Inter- 
relations of  God  and  humanity.  As  this  teaching  constitutes 
the  ])hil()sophy  of  humanit_\'s  historv  according  to  the  World- 
Religion,  it  here  requires  attention.  The  following  enumeration 
presents  the  view,  not  only  as  it  is  in  itself,  but  also  as  it  stands 


AND  THE  WORLD-RELIGION  75 

related  to  a  larger  conception  of  the  total  history  of  the  moral 
universe : 

I.  The  absolutely  primal  Interrelations  of  God  and  moral 
creatures  anterior  to  all  creaturely  self-revelation  in  consciously 
and  purposely  good  or  evil  self-assertion.  (Monergistically  and 
divinely  determined.  Not  so  much  prehistoric  as  history- 
initiating.) 

II.  These  Interrelations  as  modified  in  a  prehuman  world-aeon, 
partly  by  creaturely  self-revelation  in  consciously  and  purposely 
good  and  evil  self-assertion,  and  partly  by  new  forms  of  divine 
self-revelation  appropriate  to  these  creaturely  self-revelations  in 
good  and  evil.  (So  conceived,  the  new  interrelations  would  have 
to  be  described  as  synergistically  determined.  Moreover,  the 
creaturely  contribution  toward  their  determination  would  have  to 
be  conceived  of  as  antithetically  dual,  that  of  evil  creaturely 
coefficients  and  that  of  the  good.) 

III.  These  Interrelations  as  modified  by  the  introduction  of 
two  race-bearing  and  race-representing  creatures,  of  more  than 
angelic  possibilities,  parents  of  unknown  millions  of  moral 
creatures,  proprietors  of  a  workl  requiring  ages  for  its  roughest 
exploration,  bearers  of  a  divine  image  that  was  capable  of  becom- 
ing endlessly  more  divine,  types  and  progenitors  of  a  Seed  in 
whom  all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  should  bodilv  dwell.  Here, 
anterior  to  any  conscious  Godward  self-revelation  of  these  human 
creatures,  we  have  the  earliest  interrelations  of  God  and  humanity. 
(As  before,  in  the  earlier  beginning,  they  were  divinely  deter- 
mined, independent  of  any  agency  of  the  newly  createtl ;  but  that 
they  were  divinely  determined  irrespective  of  earlier  and  contem- 
porary non-human  moral  creatures  and  of  the  contribution  of 
these  to  the  quality  and  possibilities  of  the  moral  universe  at  the 
time  is  theistically  unthinkable.) 

IV.  The   same  Interrelations  as  modified   in   the  pre-Christian 


76  THE  RELIGIONS  OF  THE  WORLD 

vvorld-cTon  partly  by  human  self-revelation  in  consciously  and 
purposely  good  and  evil  self-assertion,  and  partly  by  new  forms 
of  divine  self-revelation  appropriate  to  these  human  self-revela- 
tions in  good  and  evil.  (Increased  complexity  of  coefficients, 
the  human  self-revelation  both  in  evil  and  in  good  having  been 
initially  facilitated  by  prehuman  and  extrahuman  creaturely 
agency.) 

V.  The  same  Interrelations  as  modified  by  the  incarnation  of 
the  Son  of  God  and  the  indivination  of  the  Son  of  man.  (Increas- 
ing complexity  of  coefficients,  even  the  divine  factor  manifest- 
ing a  trinally  self-differentiated  activity.) 

VI.  The  same  Interrelations  as  modified  by  the  progressive 
incorporation  of  the  Spirit  of  the  God-man  in  believing  humanity 
in  earthly  places,  and  the  progressive  excorporation  of  believing 
humanity  in  the  same  Spirit  into  the  heavenly  places.  (Present 
post-Pentecostal  world-seon.  Coefficients:  divine,  hypostatic 
and  monontologic ;  theanthropic ;  angelic,  beneficent  and  malefi- 
cent; human,  evil  and  good — each  creaturely  class,  moreover,  in 
"numbers  without  number.") 

VII.  The  same  Interrelations  as  yet  to  be  remodified  at  the 
close  of  the  i)resent  world-jeon,  when  in  the  presence  of  the  whole 
moral  universe  the  reembodied  race  of  God-imaging  men,  com- 
plete in  all  its  members  and  now  forever  past  all  further  self- 
multiplication,  shall  stand  for  the  first  time  self-revealed  in  and 
before  its  self-revealed  Author,  and  both,  conscious  of  a  oneness 
which  neither  life  nor  death  eternal  can  destroy,  face  the  unpic- 
turable  experiences  of  the  endless  beyond. 

To  us,  catechumens  in  the  World-Religion,  this  Philosophy  of 
World-history  seems  difficult  and  high.  Be  it  so.  But  a  few 
more  moons  and  we  may  study  it  under  larger  horizons,  in  the 
manifest  presence  of  Him  who  himself  was  in  Hie  beginning,  is 
now,  and  ever  shall  be,  world  without  end. 


APPENDIX 


I.     The  Nature  and  Naturalness  of  Religion 
II.     A  Quest  of  the  Perfect  Religion 
III.     Ancient  Conceptions  of  the  Universe 


I.  THE   NATURE  AND   NATURALNESS   OF   RELIGION 
Question  I. — What  is  religion  considered  as  to  its  essence  or  nature? 

'Anszi'cr. — First  of  all,  let  it  be  noted  that  in  all  religious  phenomena  man 
is  the  subject.  Everywhere  he  it  is  that  believes,  he  it  is  that  feels,  he  it 
is  that  acts.  However  much  religion  may  have  to  do  with  divine  beings, 
it  is  never  predicated  of  them.  No  man  of  any  faith  ever  says,  "My  god  is 
religious."  By  the  term  "religion"  we  always  mean  something  of  which 
man  is  the  proper  and  the  only  proper  subject. 

Again,  scrutinizing  religious  activities  closely,  we  find  that  none  of  them 
properly  terminate  in  or  upon  their  subject;  in  every  system  they  presup- 
pose an  object  toward  which  they  are  directed.  All  religions  assume  the 
existence  of  one  or  more  personal  beings  related  to  men  and  capable  of 
being  influenced  by  the  personal  bearing  of  men  toward  them.  Every 
worshiper  believes  that  the  object  of  his  worship  is,  and  that  he  is  the 
rewarder  of  them  that  diligently  seek  him.  Usually  he  believes  not  merely 
in  the  existence  and  in  the  present  and  future  influence  of  his  god,  but 
also  in  certain  noteworthy  events  of  the  past  by  which  that  god  is  per- 
sonally related  to  universal,  national,  or  tribal  history,  or  it  may  be  to  the 
history  of  the  worshiper  himself;  and  thus  he  believes  that  at  sundry  times, 
and  in  divers  manners,  his  god  has  revealed  himself. 

Now  a  man  may  have  many  such  objects  of  worship,  or  only  one;  he 
may  believe  them  to  be  most  gracious  or  most  wrathful;  he  may  love 
them,  or  fear  them,  or  hate  them.  No  one  of  these  things  affects  the  fun- 
damental fact  that  all  his  religious  activities  presuppose  some,  definite 
religious  belief,  and  are  largely  determined  as  to  their  character  by  the 
character  of  that  belief.  This,  then,  we  will  call  the  first  necessary  pre- 
supposition of  religion — the  idea  of  a  personality  or  of  personalities  en- 
titled to  worship;  the  belief  in  his  or  their  existence.  Let  us  call  it  the 
intellectual  presupposition. 

Looking  into  the  matter  still  further,  one  soon  perceives  that  all  re- 
ligious acts  involve  the  emotional  and  moral  nature.  The  religious  and 
irreligious  are  alike  prompted  in  their  activities  by  motives  and  states  of 
heart  of  which  they  consciously  predicate  moral  qualities.  Moreover, 
when  one  considers  that  in  all  religions  the  great  end  of  religious  activi- 
ties  is   to  please   the   divhiity   worshiped,   and   that   no   divinity  could   feel 

79 


8o  APPENDIX 

pleased  with  a  worship  either  devoid  of  all  feeling,  or  extorted  in  any  way 
against  the  inclination  of  the  worshiper,  it  is  manifest  that  the  state  of  the 
sensibilities  presupposed  in  all  normal  religious  action  must  be  a  volun- 
tarily cherished  one.  Indeed,  in  order  to  effect  a  religious  act  in  a  normal 
manner,  it  may  not  be  one  of  cherished  aversion— it  must  be  the  state 
known  as  loving  loyalty  and  trust.  It  has,  therefore,  in  any  case,  an 
ethical  character.  Let  us  call  this  the  etJiical  presupposition  of  all  religion. 
So  far,  then,  we  find  nothing  but  presuppositions.  Beliefs,  right  or 
wrong,  do  not  constitute  religion.  They  simply  render  it  possible.  I  may 
believe  in  a  god  or  in  a  million  of  them,  but  if  I  stop  with  the  belief,  it  is 
impossible  to  predicate  religion  of  me.  This  belief  simply  prepares  me  for 
the  great  life-test,  whether  I  will  be  religious  or  not.  I  shall  show  myself 
religious  or  not  according  as  I  live  up  to  my  belief  or  fail  to  do  so.  Hence 
articles,  creeds,  confessions,  theologic  dogmas  of  any  kind,  are  not  re- 
ligion ;  neither  is  the  assent  which  men  may  give  to  them.  Precisely  so  are 
we  to  distinguish  between  the  feeling  which  men  antecedently  cherish 
toward  an  object  of  worship  and  their  worship  itself.  The  inclination  to 
religion  is  not  religion. 

Let  us  come,  then,  to  the  acts  themselves.  Does  religion,  the  essence 
of  religion,  consist  in  those  acts  of  men  which  are  called  religious?  Does 
it  consist  in  prayers,  preachings,  vows,  sacrifices,  penances,  shrine-building, 
the  reading  of  holy  books,  fastings,  scourgings,  washings,  processions, 
pilgrimages,  etc.?  Here  again  the  answer  must  be,  No.  These  acts  are  all 
outward.  The  man  of  deranged  intellect,  the  blasphemer,  the  atheist,  can 
go  through  them  all.  The  hypocrite  may  perform  every  one  of  them  for 
gain,  the  scoffer  for  sport.  By  themselves  they  are  empty  forms,  possess- 
ing no  virtue  or  meaning.  Religious  acts  are  not  religion,  but  expressions 
of  religion,  manifestations  of  its  presence,  effects  of  its  power.  The  tide 
should  never  be  mistaken  for  attractional  force  of  the  moon. 

But  if  religion  is  something  human,  a  characteristic  of  man  as  a  spiritual 
being,  yet  consists  neither  in  religious  beliefs,  nor  in  religious  feelings, 
nor  in  religious  acts,  what  can  it  be?  How  shall  we  define  it  as  to  its  real 
essential  nature?  After  the  foregoing  analysis  we  are  better  prepared"  to 
answer  this  question.  And  first,  though  it  may  not  consist  in  technical  re- 
ligious acts,  it  is  something  active,  not  passive.  It  is  not  a  state  of  the 
man.  Being  religious  is  not  suffering  something,  but  doing  something. 
It  is  true,  we  have  no  one  active  verb  exactly  expressing  the  full  idea  of 
religion,  as,  for  example,  I  re}i,s;c;  but  all  that  we  do  have  expressive  of 
the  separate  elements  of  religion,  such  as,  I  worship,  I  adore,  I  love  and 


APPENDIX  8i 

serve  God,  I  confess  and  deplore  my  sins,  etc.,  plainly  express  that  re- 
ligion is  something  that  the  man  does,  not  something  that  is  done  to  him. 
Were  it  otherwise  he  would  be  the  object  instead  of  the  subject  of  re- 
ligion. 

Again,  this  action  is  an  intelligent  and  free  action.  It  is  not  some  blind 
necessary  function,  like  the  organic  action  of  the  heart  and  brain.  No 
man  is  religious  without  knowing  it,  without  meaning,  choosing,  prefer- 
ring to  be.  Religion  is  an  intelligent  and  free  bearing^  of  the  intelligent 
and  free  man. 

Again,  this  bearing  is  distinguished  from  other  intelligent  and  free 
bearings  by  its  object.  Every  active  bearing  of  man  has  reference  to 
some  object.  Over  against  this  stands  the  man,  and  his  total  personal 
action  with  reference  to  it  constitutes  his  active  bearing  toward  said 
object.  Religion  is  a  man's  active  bearing  over  against  the  divine  being 
or  beings  in  whose  existence  he  believes. 

Summing  up,  then,  we  may  define  religion  as  a  man's  total  personal 
bearing  with  respect  to  his  god,  or  gods.  It  presupposes,  first,  the  idea 
of  a  god,  or  of  gods,  and  a  belief  in  his  or  their  existence.  This  is  the 
intellectual  presupposition.  Second,  religion  presupposes  a  desire  and  in- 
tent favorably  to  affect  the  divinity  or  divinities  acknowledged,  partly  by 
deprecating  his  or  their  displeasure,  partly  by  rendering  the  acceptable 
service  which  he,  or  they,  are  supposed  rightfully  to  claim.  This  is  the 
ethical  presupposition.  Now  the  intellectual  presupposition  determines 
the  truth  or  falsity  of  any  religion,  the  ethical  its  genuineness  or  spuri- 
ousness.  True  religion  is  necessarily  conditioned  upon  true  conceptions  and 
beliefs  respecting  the  object  of  worship.  These  differ  so  greatly  that  not 
all  can  be  true.  False  religion  is  a  religion  whose  intellectual  presup- 
positions are  false;  that  is,  whose  supposed  object  or  objects  of  worship 
have  no  actual  counterpart  in  the  world  of  real  existence.  It  follows  that 
every  man's  religion  is  relatively  true  or  false,  according  as  his  concep- 
tions and  beliefs  with  respect  to  the  object  of  religion  agree  or  disagree 
with  reality.  In  like  manner  a  man's  religion  is  genuine,  or  not,  according 
as  he  desires  and  intends  it  to  meet  the  admitted  claims  of  his  divinity. 
If  utterly  destitute  of  such  desire  and  intent,  he  is  non-religious;  if  actuated 
by  a  contrary  desire  and  intent,  he  is  positively  irreligious.     If  in  the  utter 


The  term  'bearing"  seems  the  best  obtainable  to  express  the  real  thing.  Bearing  ex- 
presses its  essential  activity  without  implying  that  it  consists  in  definite  outward  acts. 
It  also  implies  that  habitualness  and  continuity  which  properly  belong  to  the  idea  of  reli- 
gion, both  in  the  individual  person  and  in  a  social  aggregate. 


82  APPENDIX 

absence  of  such  feeling  he  still  performs  religious  acts,  he  is  a  formalist, 
usually  also  a  hypocrite.  If  under  the  influence  of  a  directly  opposite  feel- 
ing he  still  performs  religious  acts,  he  is  positively  sacrilegious.  Genuinely 
religious  in  any  faith  is  he  only  who  earnestly  desires,  and  according  to 
his  light  endeavors,  to  please  the  god  he  worships. 

Finally,  religion  ultimates  in  acts.  All  religious  acts  are  reducible  to 
two  classes.  The  one  class  includes  all  acts  prompted  by  man's  sense  of 
absolute  dependence;  the  other,  all  acts  prompted  by  his  sense  of  absolute 
obligation.  To  the  former  belong  all  acts  of  prayer  so  far  as  these  are 
appeals  for  divine  help.  To  the  latter  belong  all  acts  of  service  intended 
as  a  due  response  to  a  divine  requirement.  In  the  one  class,  man's  con- 
sciousness of  weakness  finds  expression ;  in  the  other,  his  consciousness  of 
free  yet  responsible  personal  energy.  Both  are  legitimate,  equally  so ;  and 
hence  in  well-balanced  religion  neither  class  will  predominate  over  and 
suppress  the  other. 

Ques.  2. — In  order,  then,  to  absolutely  normal  religion,  what  three  things 
are  indispensably  necessary? 

Ans. — First,  it  must  be  true;  that  is,  the  intellectual  conceptions  and 
beliefs  of  the  subject  respecting  the  object  of  religion  must,  so  far  as  they 
go,  correspond  with  reality.  Second,  it  must  be  genuine;  that  is,  must 
be  prompted  and  attended  by  a  sincere  desire  to  satisfy  said  object,  or 
objects.  Thirdly,  it  must  be  well  balanced  in  its  outward  expression, 
service  neither  suppressing  prayer,  nor  prayer  service.  A  bearing  over 
against  the  divine,  true  in  its  intellectual  presupposition,  genuine  in  its 
ethical  presupposition,  complete  and  symmetrical  in  its  forms  of  expres- 
sion, is  entitled  to  the  name  of  absolutely  normal  religion.  In  the  perfect 
love  of  the  perfect  God  is  found  the  flower  and  perfection  of  such  re- 
ligion. It  presupposes  a  true  knowledge,  a  right  impulse,  and  issues  in  a 
well-balanced  expression  toward  God  and  man. 

Ques.  3. — What  does  the  foregoing  psychological  analysis  further  show? 

Ans. — The  naturalness  of  religion  in  some  form,  and  its  needfulness. 
In  every  man  there  is  a  twofold  consciousness :  a  consciousness  of  de- 
pendence and  a  consciousness  of  spontaneous  energy.  The  one  prompts 
to  self-surrender,  the  other  to  self-assertion.  This  peculiarity  exists,  if 
not  before,  at  least  independent  of,  the  earliest  perceptions  of  any  differ- 
ence in  ethical  quality  between  the  two  forms  of  action,  or  between  dif- 
ferent exercises  in  the  same  form  under  different  circumstances.     But  the 


APPENDIX  •  83 

moment  conscience  pronounces  its  uncompromising  moral  judgment  upon 
the  two,  or  upon  the  differing  expressions  of  the  two,  this  antagonism  be- 
comes all  the  deeper  and  more  intense.  From  the  distraught  subject  it 
often  extorts  the  anguished  cry,  "O  wretched  man  that  I  am,  who  shall 
deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death?"  There  is  thus  in  the  most 
radical  impulses  of  human  nature  a  constitutional  conflict.  Self,  the  con- 
sciously free  and  active  personality,  spontaneously  struggles  to  assert 
itself,  to  realize  its  will,  to  achieve  its  highest  satisfaction.  On  the  other 
hand,  this  same  self-asserting  Ego  not  only  finds  itself  actually  antagonized 
by  beings  and  powers  outside  itself,  but  also  discovers  that  its  personal 
power  is  so  limited  and  conditioned  that  it  can  realize  its  own  will,  and 
achieve  its  coveted  satisfaction,  only  by  the  aid  of  this  greater  power,  or 
sum  of  powers,  outside  itself.  In  this  deepest  and  most  central  antinomy 
o£  human  consciousness  religion  has  its  psychological  basis,  its  living  root. 
Viewed  with  respect  to  human  nature  alone,  that  is,  apart  from  the  author, 
sustainer,  and  governor  of  that  nature,  religion  grows  out  of  the  in- 
stinctive effort  of  the  soul  to  reconcile  its  own  antagonistic  impulses. 
The  true  reconciliation  is  found  in  such  a  self-surrendering  identification  of 
the  self-asserting  soul  with  the  superior  objective  power  as  at  once  freely 
and  fully  satisfies  its  consciousness  of  dependence  and  also  enables  it, 
through  that  very  identification,  to  actualize  its  henceforth  highest  zvill 
and  achiczr  its  henceforth  highest  satisfaction. 

Qucs.  4. — Wherein,  at  this  point,  is  the  superiority  of  the  World-Religion 
seen? 

^■\,js. — In  this,  that  in  it  alone  an  all-perfect  Object  is  so  related  to  each 
Subject  that  the  described  and  universally  needed  reconciliation  can  be 
made  effectual.  The  true  reconciliation  just  described  is  preeminently 
the  Christian  conception  of  religion.  It  is  expressed  in  what  Jesus  says 
about  first  finding  life  by  losing  it.  Had  this  deep  teaching  been  first 
propounded  by  some  heathen  sage,  our  modern  expounders  of  the  philos- 
ophy of  religion  might  well  have  lauded  his  profundity.  The  same  idea 
is  to  a  good  degree  shared  by  all  thoroughly  earnest  monotheistic  religion- 
ists. In  experience  these  practically  approach  the  full  reconciliation  of 
their  naturally  antagonistic  impulses  in  proportion  to  their  actual  self- 
identification  with  that  infinite  personality  on  whom  they  feel  their  de- 
pendence, and  who  has  absolute  control  over  all  that  limits  and  embar- 
rasses thrir  normal,  that  is,  their  pious,  self-assertion.  That  polytheists 
never  attain   it   linds   its   philosophic   explanation   in   three   considerations: 


84  APPENDIX 

(i)  No  one  of  their  gods  possessing  infinite  power  and  absolute  control 
over  all  things,  it  is  plain  that  no  one  of  them  can  give  to  a  self-surrender- 
ing soul  an  unlimited  freedom  of  self-assertion.  Were  we,  therefore,  to 
grant  the  existence  of  all  the  gods  of  the  polytheistic  peoples  just  as  they 
are  conceived  by  their  worshipers,  we  should  still  see,  both  in  their  in- 
dividual finiteness  and  in  their  partial  and  conflicting  claims  and  jurisdic- 
tions, a  plain  reason  for  the  failure  of  all  polytheistic  religion  to  reconcile 
the  native  antagonism  found  in  universal  human  consciousness.  Still 
clearer  is  the  case  to  all  who  hold  that  such  gods  are  purely  imaginary ; 
that,  being  mere  nonentities,  they  control  none  of  the  objective  powers 
which  oppose  the  worshiper's  self-assertion.  (2)  Despairing  of  such 
reconciliation,  many  of  these  religionists  have  seen  no  road  to  peace  and 
blessedness  save  in  the  utter  suppression  of  the  consciousness  of  depend- 
ence with  all  its  impulses  to  self-surrender.  As  this,  however,  is  in  practice 
psychologically  impossible,  the  result  has  been  forms  of  religion  in  which 
the  man  is  more  prominent  than  the  god,  in  which  work  overrides  worship, 
and  a  stoical  contempt  and  disregard  of  human  limitations  take  the  place  of 
loyal  and  filial  self-surrender.  (3)  Others,  painfully  convinced  of  the 
futility  of  seeking  their  supreme  good  in  this  direction,  try  the  opposite 
road,  and  hope  by  an  absolute  suppression  of  self-activity,  and  by  an 
absolute  self-surrender  to  superior  powers,  to  find  the  rest  and  peace  of  a 
perfect  life.  In  pantheistic  religions  this  idea  is  carried  to  such  an  ex- 
treme that  their  adherents  expect  full  blessedness  only  in,  and  by  means 
of,  a  personal  reabsorption  into  the  impersonal  Absolute.  Both  these  ideas 
being  utterly  at  war  with  the  very  nature  of  the  soul,  in  which  nature  the 
instinct  of  self-assertion  and  the  consciousness  of  self-insufficiency  are 
equally  indestructible,  it  is  not  strange  that  those  who  act  upon  them 
fail  of  finding  inward  peace  and  rest  and  blessedness. 

Qties.  5. — How  does  religious  activity  tend  to  modify  itself? 

Alls. — The  foregoing  view  of  the  psychology  of  religion  would  still  be 
very  defective  were  it  to  overlook  the  reflex  influence  of  the  religious 
activity  upon  the  soul,  and  thus  in  turn  upon  itself.  For  while  in  the 
natural  order  of  thought  religious  conceptions,  beliefs,  feelings,  and 
purposes  precede  and  shape  that  Godward  bearing  of  the  soul  which  we 
style  religion,  it  is  equally  true  that  in  fact  the  Godward  bearing  itself 
reacts  upon  these  antecedents,  modifying  them  in  various  important  re- 
spects. For  example,  let  us  suppose  that  a  soul  has  just  received  its  first 
distinct   conception  of  a   rightful  object   of  worship,   and   experienced   the 


APPENDIX  85 

first  promptings  of  feeling  to  attempt  the  securement  of  his  favor.  Sup- 
pose that  under  this  prompting  he  sincerely  and  earnestly  attempts  what 
he  supposes  to  be  a  normal  bearing  over  against  this  being,  and  soon  after 
experiences  what  are  to  him  encouraging  tokens  that  his  service  or 
prayer  is  acceptable.  This  experience  immediately  affects  his  conception 
of  the  god.  The  element  of  benignity  in  that  conception  at  once  becomes 
more  prominent  and  lustrous.  Then,  as  by  similar  experiences  in  his  re- 
ligious life  he  practically  tests  his  divinity's  faithfulness  or  unfaithfulness, 
his  compassion  or  cruelty,  his  longsuffering  or  pettishness,  the  worshiper's 
conception  takes  on  greater  and  greater  definiteness,  until  at  length  he 
comes  to  feel  intimately  acquainted  with  the  being  who  at  first  was  to 
him  little  more  than  a  mere  abstract  idea.  Especially  is  this  the  case 
where  the  worshiper  discovers  such  a  degree  of  uniformity  in  what  he 
regards  as  manifestations  of  his  divinity's  favor  or  disfavor  as  enables 
him  to  draw  confident  conclusions  respecting  his  character.  Where  this  is 
not  the  case  the  influence  of  religious  activity  may  be  to  confuse  and_ 
weaken  a  conception  which  at  an  earlier  time  was  clear  and  confidently 
believed  in  by  the  individual.  It  is,  indeed,  conceivable  that  by  being  re- 
ligious a  man  should  become  an  atheist.  For  if,  in  response  to  long- 
continued  efforts  to  observe  a  normal  bearing  over  against  his  god,  he 
experiences  nothing  which  he  can  recognize  as  a  decisive  manifestation  of 
divine  favor  or  disfavor,  wrath  or  love,  he  may  finally  arrive  at  the  con- 
clusion that  his  supposed  god  can  do  him  neither  harm  nor  good,  yea, 
that  he  is  a  mere  phantasm  of  his  own  imagining.  Thus  the  practice  of 
religion  may  not  only  modify  a  man's  original  conception  of  the  proper 
object  of  worship,  but  may  also  on  the  one  hand  confirm,  or  on  the  other 
undermine,  his  faith  in  the  reality  of  that  object. 

A  similar  reflex  influence  exerted  by  religion  upon  its  ethical  presupposi- 
tion should  here  be  noted.  The  disposition  to  be  religious  is  affected  by 
being  religious.  In  a  normal  religious  activity  it  is  easy  to  see  that  this 
disposition  must  be  constantly  intensified,  and  this  in  two  ways.  First,  by 
the  law  of  habit,  which  applies  to  the  sensibilities  and  will,  as  strongly 
as  to  any  other  powers  of  man ;  and  secondly,  in  virtue  of  the  desirable 
results  of  normal  religious  activity.  This  beneficent  law  of  progressive 
intensification,  however,  renders  it  possible  for  a  man  to  grow  irreligious 
by  the  practice  of  religion.  For  if  his  religion  is  false,  and  hence  fruitless, 
as  some  forms  of  religion  must  be,  this  fruitlessness,  continually  disap- 
pointing and  baffling,  may  also  at  length  imbitter  him,  and  thus  induce  a 
state  of  feeling  so  abnormal  that  he  shall  nn  longer  even  care  to  please 


86  APPENDIX 

his  divinity.  Indeed,  this  experience  and  this  imbitterment  may  go  so  far 
that  while  still  holding  with  unshaken  intellectual  confidence  to  the  ex- 
istence of  his  god,  the  man  may  positively  hate  and  insult  him.  Whether 
in  a  false  religion  this  shall  be  the  result  of  religious  activity,  or  the  atheism 
mentioned  above,  depends  greatly,  perhaps  mainly,  on  the  relative  strength 
of  the  intellectual  and  emotional  natures  in  the  subject.  If  the  intellectual 
predominate,  the  tendency  will  be  toward  atheism ;  if  the  emotional,  it 
will  be  toward   impiety. 

Ques.  6. — In  what  ways  may  the  religious  activity  be  modified  by  an 
ideally  perfect  Object  of  religion? 

Ans. — From  the  foregoing  analysis  it  is  evident  that  there  are  three 
ways  in  which  an  ideally  perfect  Object  of  religion  may  affect  the  bearing 
of  his  Subject : 

1.  By  affecting  the  presuppositions.  When  by  an  inner  spiritual  operation 
■he  clarifies  and  intensifies  the  intellectual  presupposition,  that  is,  the  man's 
apprehension  of  God  and  duty,  religious  teachers  call  this  "enlightenment." 
When  the  divine  inworking  thoroughly  affects  the  emotional  and  ethical 
nature,  the  result  is  that  change  of  spiritual  feeling  and  purpose  des- 
ignated by  the  term  "regeneration,"  or  new  birth. 

2.  The  action  of  the  Object  of  religion  may  coexist  with  that  of  the 
Subject  in  and  along  with  his  active  bearing  itself,  and,  so  affect  its  char- 
acter and  intensity.  Christian,  and  nearly  all  other,  theists  hold  to  such  a 
working  of  God  in  the  worshiper,  not  only  antecedently  to  illuminate  and 
waken,  but  also  thereafter  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  own  good  pleasure. 

3.  The  Object  of  religion  may  actively  affect  the  expression  or  outward 
manifestations  of  religion:  (a)  by  preceptively  prescribing  the  forms  and 
duties  in  and  under  which  he  desires  to  be  worshiped;  {b)  by  inclining 
the  worshiper  either  by  providential  circumstances,  or  by  his  secret  in- 
fluence upon  the  soul,  to  give  manifestation  to  its  religious  activity  pre- 
dominantly in  this  mode  or  in  that. 

In  an  ideally  perfect  religion  we  should  antecedently  expect  to  find  all 
the  here  described  modes  of  divine  inworking. 

Qucs.  /. — How  is  the  truth  or  reality  of  this  interior  presence  and  divine 
working  conceived  of  in  the  highest  form  of  the  World-Religion? 

Ans. — As  self-evidencing.  "Hereby  we  know  that  he  abideth  in  us 
by  the  Spirit  that  he  hath  given  us." 


APPENDIX  87 

Ques.  8.— How  does  James  Russell  Lowell  express  the  thought? 

O  Power  more  near  my  life  than  life  itself — 

Or  what  seems  life  to  us  in  sense  immured — 

Even  as  the  roots,  shut  in  the  darksome  earth, 

Share  in  the  tree-top's  joyance,  and  conceive 

Of  sunshine  and  wide  air  and  winged  things 

By  sympathy  of  nature,  so  do  I 

Have  evidence  of  thee  so  far  above, 

Yet  in  and  of  me !    Rather  thou  the  root 

Invisibly  sustaining,  hid  in  light, 

Not  darkness  or  in  darkness  made  by  us. 

If  sometimes  I  must  hear  good  men  debate 

Of  other  witness  of  thyself  than  thou. 

As  if  there  needed  any  help  of  ours 

To  nurse  thy  flickering  life,  that  else  must  cease, 

Blown  out,  as  't  were  a  candle,  by  men's  breath. 

My  soul  shall  not  be  taken  in  their  snare, 

To  change  her  inward  surety  for  their  doubt 

'Muffled  from  sight  in  formal  robes  of  proof: 

While  she  can  only  feel  herself  through  thee, 

I  fear  not  thy  withdrawal ;  more  I  fear. 

Seeing,  to  know  thee  not,  hoodwinked  with  dreams 

Of  signs  and  wonders,  while,  unnoticed,  thou, 

Walking  thy  garden  still,  commun'st  with  men, 

Missed  in  the  commonplace  of  miracle. 

— Closiiii!  lines  of  "The  Cathedral." 


Ques.  9.— What  says  Whittier  of  it,  in  the  lines  entitled  "Our  Master"? 

Immortal  love,  forever  full, 

Forever  flowing  free, 
Forever  shared,  forever  whole, 

A  never-ebbing  sea! 

In  joy  of  inward  peace,  or  sense 

Of  sorrow  over  sin, 
He  is  his  own  best  evidence, 

His  witness  is  within. 


88  APPENDIX 

II.  A  QUEST  OF  THE  PERFECT  RELIGION 

One  day,  years  ago,  as  I  was  walking  up  one  of  the  main  streets  of 
Tokyo,  I  encountered  an  experience  not  soon  to  be  forgotten.  M3'  com- 
panion, who  was  the  American  minister  to  the  Mikado's  court,  was 
pointing  out  to  me  at  a  considerable  distance  a  large  hall,  called  the 
Meiji  Kuaido,  and  explaining  that  though  now  belonging  to  the  govern- 
ment, it  was  originally  built  in  a  spirit  of  opposition  to  Christian  missions 
and  was  designed  to  be  a  kind  of  headquarters  for  all  who  wished  to  reha- 
bilitate the  old  religions,  or  in  any  way  to  oppose  the  spread  of  the 
Christian  faith.  While  he  was  narrating  some  incidents  connected  with 
it  we  came  nearer  and  nearer,  but  soon  found  our  further  progress  blocked 
by  an  altogether  unprecedented  crowd  of  people,  evidently  made  up  of  the 
most  diverse  nationalities.  It  filled  not  only  the  approaches  to  the  build- 
ing, but  also  the  whole  street  for  some  distance  in  front  and  on  either 
side.  Upon  inquiry  we  learned  that  a  convention  of  quite  unusual  in- 
terest was  in  progress  and  that  all  these  people  whom  the  building  could 
not  contain  were  waiting  to  learn  what  they  could  of  the  progress  of  the 
deliberations  within.  One  man  kindly  showed  us  a  copy  of  the  call  under 
which  the  assembly  had  been  brought  together.  At  its  top  I  read  these 
words :  "World's  Convention  for  the  Definition  and  Promulgation  of  a 
Perfect  and  Universal  Religion."  The  provisions  under  which  the  dele- 
gates were  to  be  appointed,  and  the  Convention  organized,  were  carefully 
drawn  and  admirably  adapted  to  secure  a  most  weighty  and  representa- 
tive body.  Nearly  every  religion  and  sect  I  had  ever  heard  of — except  the 
Christian — was  named  and  provided  for.  Of  course  I  was  at  once  in- 
tensely interested  to  see  so  rare  a  body — the  first  of  its  kind  in  the  history 
of  the  world.  Rut  the  crowd  was  so  dense  I  was  almost  in  despair.  For- 
tunately, in  our  extremity  two  stout  policemen  recognized  my  companion, 
and,  knowing  his  ambassadorial  character,  undertook  to  make  a  way  for 
us  and  to  bring  us  into  the  hall.  The  struggle  was  long  and  severe,  but  at 
last  our  faithful  guides  succeeded  in  edging  us  into  an  overcrowded  bal- 
cony to  a  standing  place  from  which  nearly  the  whole  body  of  the  dele- 
gates could  be  seen..  Never  can  I  forget  that  many-hued  andi  strangely 
clad  assembly.  Nearly  every  delegation  had  some  sacred  banner,  or  other 
symbol,  by  which  it  might  be  distinguished.  In  the  center  of  the  hall  was 
the  yellow  silken  banner  of  the  Chinese  Dragon.  On  the  left  I  saw  the 
crescent  of  Islam;  on  the  right  the  streamers  of  the  Grand  Lama  of  Tibet. 
Not  far  away  was  the  seven-storied  sacred  umbrella  of  Burmah,  and  be- 


APPENDIX  89 

yond  it  the  gaudy  feather-work  of  a  dusky  delegation  from  Ashantee.  In 
one  corner  I  even  thought  I  recognized  the  totem  of  one  of  our  Indian 
tribes  of  Alaska. 

On  the  program  there  were  five  questions,  each  evidently  framed  with 
a  view  to  make  its  discussion  and  answer  contribute  toward  the  common 
end,  the  definition  of  a  perfect  and  universal  religion.  The  first  read  as 
follows:  "Can  there  be  more  than  one  perfect  religion?"  The  opening 
of  the  discussion  of  this  had  been  assigned  to  a  great  Buddhist  teacher 
from  Ceylon.  The  second  question,  to  be  opened  by  a  Mohammedan,  was, 
"What  kind  of  an  object  of  worship  must  a  perfect  religion  present?" 
The  third  was  assigned  to  a  Taoist,  and  was  thus  formulated:  "What 
must  a  perfect  religion  demand  of,  and  promise  to,  the  sincere  worshiper?" 
The  fourth,  assigned  to  a  Hindu  pundit,  was  the  following:  "In  what  re- 
lation must  the  divine  object  and  the  human  subject  stand  to  each  other 
in  a  perfect  religion?"  The  fifth  and  last  question  read:  "By  what  cre- 
dentials shall  a  perfect  religion,  if  ever  found,  be  known?"  The  honor 
and  responsibility  of  opening  this  last  and  highest  of  the  proposed  dis- 
cussions was  reserved  to  the  official  head  of  the  Shinto  priesthood  of 
Japan,  the  highest  representative  of  the  ancestral  faith  of  the  empire. 

As  soon  as  my  friend  and  I  could  get  our  bearings,  we  were  pleased 
to  find  that  onlv  one  of  the  questions  had  been  discussed  and  acted  upon 
by  the  Convention  before  our  arrival.  Wc  were  told  that  the  assembly 
had  been  opened  by  the  president  designated  in  the  Call ;  and  that  nothing 
on  earth  was  ever  more  impressive  than  the  three  minutes  of  silent  prayer 
which  followed  the  uplifting  of  the  chairman's  hand  and  eye.  After  this 
there  had  been  a  brief  address  of  welcome  from  the  Committee  of  Ar- 
rangements, a  few  words  of  thanks  from  the  president  in  response;  then 
a  short  opening  address  by  the  president,  and  the  introduction  of  the 
distinguished  Buddhist  representative  from  Ceylon,  who  was  to  discuss  the 
question,  "Can  there  be  more  than  one  perfect  religion?"  To  a  Buddhist, 
there  could  be,  of  course,  but  one  answer  to  this  question,  and  that  a 
negative.  But  he  argued  it— as  our  infomrmts  told  us— with  wonderful 
tact  as  well  as  power.  He  kept  the  qualification  "perfect"  so  prominently 
before  his  hearers'  minds  that  however  accustomed  any  of  them  might 
be  to  think  and  say  that  there  may  be  and  are  many  good  religions,  none 
could  fail  to  see  that  of  perfect  religions  there  could  be  but  one.  He  also 
carefully  abstained  from  identifying  his  own  system  with  the  perfect 
religion,  and  thus  avoided  the  mistake  of  exciting  the  jealousy  of  rival 
religionists.     So  complete  had  been  his  success,  that  after  a  short  discus- 


90  APPENDIX 

sion  in  which  several  verj'  diverse  speakers  participated,  a  venerable 
Parsee  had  moved,  and  just  before  our  arrival  the  Convention  had  unani- 
mously adopted,  the  following  resolution:  "Resolved,  That  in  the  opinion 
of  this  World's  Convention  there  can  be  but  one  perfect  religion." 

While  we  were  getting  hold  of  these  facts  we  lost  the  president's  in- 
troduction of  the  second  preappointed  speaker.  We  soon  learned,  how- 
ever, that  he  was  the  senior  moulvie  of  the  great  Mohammedan  University 
at  Cairo,  a  school  of  Islam  in  which  there  are  all  the  time  about  ten 
thousand  students  in  preparation  for  the  duties  of  public  religious  teachers 
and  chanters  of  prayers.  His  piercing  eye  and  snow-white  beard  and 
vigorous  frame  would  have  made  him  anywhere  a  man  of  mark.  Seated 
after  his  manner  of  teaching  in  the  mosque  upon  a  low  bamboo  frame, 
clad  in  his  official  robe,  he  looked  like  a  resurrected  Old  Testament 
prophet — an  Isaiah  in  living  form  before  us.  At  first  I  wondered  if  he 
would  be  able  to  speak  to  so  modern  a  question  as  the  one  assigned  him — 
"What  kind  of  an  object  of  worship  must  a  perfect  religion  present?" 

Time  would  fail  me  were  I  to  attempt  to  report  with  any  fullness  his 
rhythmic  speech.  It  was  Oriental  through  and  through — quaint,  poetic,  full 
of  apothegms,  proverbs,  parables — but  it  conclusively  answered  the  ques- 
tion. He  made  even  the  feather-decked  gri-gri  worshipers  of  Western 
Africa  see  that  a  god  who  knows  much  about  his  worshiper,  and  can  do 
great  things  for  him,  is  more  perfect  than  a  god  who  knows  little  and 
can  do  but  little.  Then  arguing  up  and  up,  he  made  it  plain  to  every 
intelligence  that  a  perfect  religion  necessarily  demands  a  god  possessing  all 
knowledge  and  all  power.  It  becomes  a  perfect  religion  only  by  present- 
ing to  the  worshiper,  as  the  supreme  object  of  obedience,  love  and  service, 
a  perfect  being.  He  showed  also  that  perfection  in  an  object  of  worship 
required  that  it  be  a  living  object,  that  it  have  intelligence,  rational  feel- 
ings, and  purposes— in  a  word,  that  it  possess  real  and  complete  person- 
ality. It  must  be  possible  to  address  him  as  a  personality.  He  needs  to 
be  in  every  place,  to  be  before  all  things,  in  all  things,  above  all  things. 
Limit  him  in  any  respect  and  the  religion  you  present  becomes  less  than 
perfect. 

This  was  the  thought  stripped  of  all  its  weird  and  Oriental  adornments. 
But  as  he  expanded  and  enforced  it  his  eye  kindled  and  his  chantlike 
speech  rose  and  fell,  and  rose  and  fell,  until  we  hardly  knew  whether  we 
were  in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body,  so  wondrous  was  the  spell  where- 
with he  had  bound  us. 

He  was  followed  by  an  eloquent  representative  of  the  Brahmo  Somaj, 


APPENDIX  91 

and  he  in  turn  by  a  Persian  Babist,  both  of  whom  argued  in  the  same 
line  with  such  effect,  tiuit  when  a  picturesquely  turbaned  representative  of 
the  rehgion  of  the  Sikhs  gained  the  floor  and  moved  that  it  be  the  sense 
of  the  Convention  that  a  perfect  rehgion  must  present  a  perfect  god,  the 
whole  vast  assembly  was  found  to  be  a  unit  in  affirming  this  grand 
declaration. 

Next,  of  course,  came  the  third  question :  "What  must  a  perfect  re- 
ligion demand  of  the  sincere  worshiper,  and  what  must  it  promise  to  him?" 
To  open  its  discussion  the  appointed  Taoist  teacher  was  politely  intro- 
duced. As  his  noble  form  advanced  quietly  to  the  front  of  the  platform 
in  the  costume  of  a  Chinese  mandarin  of  the  highest  rank,  it  was  at  once 
evident  that  the  better  side  of  Taoism  was  to  be  represented — the  ideas 
of  the  Tao-teh-king,  and  not  the  superstition  and  jugglery  of  modern 
popular  Taoism. 

He  began  by  saying  that  it  seemed  proper  for  him  to  start  out  from  the 
point  where  the  preceding  discussion  had  stopped,  the  Convention  having 
already  voted  that  there  could  be  but  one  perfect  religion,  and  that  this 
religion  in  order  to  be  perfect  must  present  a  perfect  object  of  worship. 
With  both  of  these  propositions  he  said  he  was  in  full  accord,  provided 
only  that  it  be  constantly  borne  in  mind  that  the  whole  discussion  related 
to  a  purely  abstract  or  hypothetical  question. 

"Now,"  said  he,  "if  a  man  really  had  a  perfect  object  of  worship,  it  is 
plain  that  his  duty  toward  it  would  be  very  different  from  that  he  owes  to 
any  of  those  finite  and  limited  and  imperfect  divinities  which  we  and  our 
fathers  have  been  accustomed  to  worship.  Our  duties  to  these,  and  their 
duties  to  us,  are  more  analogous  to  our  duty  to  observe  courtesy  toward 
our  fellowmen  and  kindness  toward  those  below  us.  The  moment  we 
picture  to  ourselves  a  perfect  God,  the  maker,  upholder  and  governor  of  all 
beings,  Lord  even  of  the  celestial  and  terrestrial  spirits  whom  we  are  in 
the  habit  of  worshiping,  that  moment  we  see  that  the  worship  of  such  a 
being  would  of  necessity  be  something  very  different.  As  giver  of  all  our 
powers  and  possibilities,  he  could  justly  demand  that  we  employ  them  all 
for  the  accomplishment  of  the  purpose  for  which  he  gave  them.  Indeed, 
were  he  a  perfectly  rational  being,  it  would  seem  impossible  that  he 
should  require  less. 

"On  the  other  hand,  such  a  being  would  of  necessity  possess  both  the 
power  and  the  inclination  to  give  to  his  sincere  worshiper  the  perfect  fruit 
of  genuine  piety.  This  can  be  nothing  less  than  perfect  virtue,  and  even 
exquisite  delight  in  virtue.     In  a  perfect  piety  all  self-conflict,  all  internal 


p2  APPENDIX 

resistance  to  good,  all  self-will  must  be  absolutely  and  totally  eliminated. 
All  fear— even  of  that  perfect  Being— would  have  to  be  absent;  nay,  it 
would  have  to  be  transmuted  into  eager  unintermittent  love.  On  the  other 
hand,  how  unutterably  would  a  perfect  object  of  worship  love  and  bless 
a  perfectly  sincere  worshiper !" 

After  many  other  touching  words,  particularly  upon  the  woeful  con- 
trast between  the  ideal  and  the  actual  in  life,  and  upon  the  arduousness 
of  the  struggle  for  virtue  under  every  religion,  he  closed  by  submitting 
the  following  proposition  for  the  further  consideration  of  the  Convention  : 
"Resolved,  That  a  perfect  religion  will  have  to  demand  of  man  a  perfect 
surrender  of  will  and  life  to  a  perfect  object  of  worship,  and  will  have  to 
promise  him  a  perfect  freedom  and  satisfaction  in  the  life  of  goodness." 

A  Sufi  from  Ispahan,  a  Theosophist  from  Bombay,  and  various  other 
speakers  followed,  all  very  nearly  agreeing  with  the  first,  but  some  of  them 
preferring  a  different  wording  of  the  resolution.  Various  amendments 
were  proposed  and  discussed,  until  at  length  the  following  substitute  was 
offered:  ''Resolved,  That  if  a  perfect  religion  were  possible  to  imperfect 
men,  it  would  require  of  the  worshiper  a  perfect  devotion  to  a  perfect  god, 
and  would  demand  of  the  perfect  god  a  perfect  ultimate  beatification  of 
the  worshiper."     This  was  unanimously  and  even  enthusiastically  adopted. 

Question  four  was  now  in  order.  The  president  rose  and  said:  "The 
fourth  question  reads  as  follows:  'In  what  relation  must  the  divine  object 
and  the  human  subject  stand  to  each  other  in  a  perfect  religion?'  The 
discussion  of  this  (luestion  is  to  be  opened  by  one  who  has  himself  ofttimes 
been  the  recipient  of  divine  worship,  and  who  represents  an  ancient  and 
powerful  priesthood  believed  by  millions  to  be  a  real  embodiment  of  the 
one  divine  and  eternal  Spirit.  I  have  the  honor  to  present  to  the  Conven- 
tion the  venerated  head  of  all  the  sacred  houses  of  the  Brahmans  in  the 
holy  city  of  Benares." 

Calm  as  his  own  imposing  religion,  yet  keener  than  any  who  had  pre- 
ceded him,  the  Hindu  addressed  himself  to  his  allotted  task.  For  twenty 
minutes  he  held  every  eye  and  commanded  every  mind.  How  shall  I  give 
you  any  conception  of  that  captivating  discourse?  The  following  is  but 
the  barest  thread  to  intimate  the  great  truths  touched  upon  by  his  master 
hand. 

He  began  by  saying  that  some  personal  relationship  between  the 
worshiper  and  the  worshiped  was  necessarily  involved  in  the  very  idea  of 
worship.  In  this  act  the  worshiper  is  thinking  of  the  object  of  his  wor- 
ship, otherwise  he  is  not  worshiping.     So  the  being  worshiped  is  thinking 


APPENDIX  93 

of  his  worshiper,  otherwise  he  is  not  receiving  the  worship.  Here,  then,  is 
mutual  simultaneous  thought.  Each  has  a  place  in  the  consciousness  of 
the  other.  To  this  extent  they  possess  a  common  consciousness.  In  this 
fellowship  of  mutual  thought  they  are  mutually  related;  by  it  they  are 
vitally  and  personally  connected. 

This  connection  may,  of  course,  be  of  two  kinds.  If  the  god  is  angry 
with  his  worshiper,  or  the  worshiper  with  his  god,  the  relationship  is  one 
of  hatred  and  antagonism.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  relation  of  mutual 
inclination— the  man  sincerely  seeking  to  please  his  god,  and  the  god 
sincerely  seeking  to  bless  his  worshiper — it  is,  of  course,  a  relationship  of 
amity,  of  good  fellowship,  of  mutual  love.  But  all  religions  agree  that 
the  first  of  these  relationships,  that  of  enmity  and  estrangement,  is  abnor- 
mal, one  which  ought  not  to  be.  All  religions  aim  to  remove  or  to  trans- 
form such  a  relationship  wherever  it  exists.  It  is,  therefore,  plain  that 
the  perfect  religion,  if  there  be  one,  must  require  and  make  the  personal 
relationship  between  the  worshiper  and  the  worshiped  a  relation  of  mutual 
benevolence — a  relation  of  mutual  love.  Nowhere  can  there  be  a  perfect 
religion  if  the  man  do  not  sincerely  love  his  god,  and  if  the  god  do  not 
sincerely  love  his  worshiper. 

Here  the  speaker  raised  a  most  interesting  question  as  to  degree.  To 
what  extent  ought  this  love  to  go?  There  could  be  but  one  answer.  In  a 
perfect  religion  the  love  of  the  worshiper  for  the  worshiped  must,  of 
course,  be  the  strongest  possible,  particularly  as  the  worshiped  is  himself 
all-perfect,  and  hence  all-worthy  of  this  love.  So,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
love  of  the  worshiped  toward  the  worshiper  ought  to  be  the  very  strongest 
possible.  What,  then,  is  the  strongest  possible  love  which  the  divine  can 
bear  to  the  human  and  the  human  to  the  divine? 

I  cannot  enough  regret  that  my  limits  compel  mc  to  suppress  his  dis- 
cussion of  this  pregnant  question.  I  can  only  say  that  from  point  to  point 
he  carried  the  convictions  of  his  vast  audience  until  he  liad  triumphantly 
demonstrated  three  far-reaching  propositions:  (i)  That  the  ever  higher 
and  more  perfect  devotion  of  a  worshiper  can  never  reach  its  supreme 
intensity  until  he  is  ready,  and  even  desirous,  to  merge  his  very  will  and 
life  and  being  in  the  will  and  life  and  being  of  the  all-perfect  object  of  his 
worship.  (2)  That  the  gracious  disposition  of  the  object  worshiped  toward 
the  worshiper  can  never  reach  its  supreme  intensity  until  the  worshiped 
being  is  ready,  and  desirous,  to  descend  from  the  divine  form  and  mode 
of  being  and.  in  an  abandon  of  compassionate  love,  take  on  the  form 
and  the  limitations  of  his  Innnan   worshiper.      (3)    That  in  a  perfect   re- 


94  APPENDIX 

ligion  the  human  subject  and  the  divine  object  must  be  set  in  such  rela- 
tions that  it  shall  be  possible  for  God  to  become  a  partaker  of  human 
nature,  and  for  man  in  some  sense  to  become  a  partaker  of  the  divine 
nature. 

Profound  was  the  silence  which  followed  this  wonderful  discourse. 
The  first  to  break  it  was  a  professor  in  the  Imperial  University  of  Tokyo, 
a  man  who,  though  of  European  birth,  was  in  complete  sympathy  with  the 
purposes  of  the  Convention.  'After  highly  complimenting  the  Brahman 
speaker,  he  said  that  he  himself  had  long  been  an  admiring  student  of 
India's  sacred  books.  With  the  permission  of  the  Convention  he  would 
like  to  recite  a  few  lines  from  one  of  them,  the  Isa  Upanishad,  which 
seemed  to  him  admirably  to  express  the  true  relation  subsisting  between 
the  worshiping  soul  and  the  Infinite.     He  then  gave  the  following: 

Whate'er  exists  within  this  universe 
Is  all  to  be  regarded  as  enveloped 
By  the  great  Lord,  as  if  wrapped  in  a  vesture. 
There  is  one  only  being  who  exists 
Unmoved,  yet  moving  swifter  than  the  mind ; 
Who  far  outstrips  the  senses,  tho'  as  gods 
They  strive  to  reach  him ;  who  himself  at  rest 
Transcends  the  fleetest  flight  of  other  beings; 
Who  like  the  air  supports  all  vital  action. 
He  moves,  yet  moves  not;  he  is  far,  yet  near; 
He  is  within  this  universe.     Whoe'er  beholds 
All  living  creatures  as  in  him,  and  him — 
The  Universal  Spirit — as  in  all, 
Henceforth  regards  no  creature  with  contempt. 

"Now  here,"  continued  the  professor,  "here  we  have  the  true  conception 
admirably  expressed.  Because  the  Universal  Spirit  is  in  all  things,  even 
in  the  worshiper,  and  on  the  other  hand  all  things,  even  the  worshiper, 
are  in  this  Universal  Spirit,  it  is  more  than  possible — it  is  inevitable — that 
the  divine  should  have  participancy  in  the  human  and  the  human  in  the 
divine.  Few  of  the  great  religions  of  the  world  have  failed  to  recognize 
in  some  way  this  basal  truth.  Even  the  Shamans  of  the  barbarous  tribes 
claim  to  exercise  divine  powers  only  when  personally  possessed  of  divine 
spirits.  In  Tibet  the  faithful  see  in  the  distinguished  head  of  their  hier- 
archy the  Dalai  Lama — with  whose  presence  we  to-day  are  honored: — ■ 
a  true  divine  incarnation.    For  ages  here  in  Japan  the  sacred  person  of  the 


APPENDIX  95 

Mikado  has  been  recognized  as  a  god  in  human  form.  The  founders  of 
nearly  all  great  religions  and  states  have  been  held  to  be  descendants,  or 
impersonations,  of  the  gods.  In  like  manner  the  apotheosis  of  dying  em- 
perors, Roman  and  other,  shows  how  natural  is  the  faith  that  good  and 
great  men  can  take  on  the  nature  and  the  life  divine.  Ask  India's  hun- 
dreds of  millions.  They  all  affirm  that  every  human  being  may  aspire  to 
ultimate  and  absolute  identification  with  God.  The  even  more  numerous 
followers  of  the  Buddha  hold  that,  in  his  enlightenment.  Sakya  Muni  was 
far  superior  to  any  god.  Now,  if  such  are  the  conceptions  of  the  actual 
religions,  how  certain  is  it  that  the  ideal,  the  perfect  religion,  must  provide 
a  recognition  of  them !  I  move  you,  Mr.  President,  that  the  propositions 
of  our  Brahman  orator  from  Benares  be  adopted  as  the  voice  of  this 
Convention." 

No  speaker  appearing  in  the  negative,  the  motion  was  put  and  carried 

without  dissent. 

Thus,  with  astonishing  unanimity,  the  assembly  had  reached  the  final 
question  upon  the  program,  "By  what  credentials  shall  a  perfect  religion 
be  known?" 

Intenser  than  ever  grew  the  interest  of  the  delegates.  On  the  answer 
to  this  question  hung  all  their  hopes  as  to  any  practically  useful  outcome 
from  the  holding  of  this  great  Ecumenical  Convention.  Doubly  intense 
was  the  interest  of  the  onlooking  Japanese,  for  here,  in  the  presence  of 
the  world's  religions,  the  highest  and  most  authoritative  religious  voice 
of  their  own  empire  was  now  to  be  heard.  Breathless  was  the  entire 
throng  as  the  speaker  began  : 

"Hail  to  the  Supreme  Spirit  of  Truth.  Praise  to  the  Kami  of  kamis— 
the  living  essence  of  the  ever-lasting,  ever-living  Light. 

"Why  are  we  here,  brothers  from  all  climes,  why  are  we  here  in  serious 
search  for  the  one  true  and  perfect  Way?  It  is  because  He,  in  whom 
are  all  things,  and  who  is  in  all  things— as  sang  that  Hindu  poet— is 
yearning  with  ineffable  affection  to  be  known  of  us,  his  earthly  offspring, 
and  to  know  us  as  his  own.  Only  lately  have  I  learned  this  secret.  Only 
since  my  invitation  to  address  this  World's  Convention  have  my  eyes  been 
opened  to  the  blessed  truth.  Never  before  had  I  been  led  to  meditate  upon 
the  necessary  implications  of  a  religion  absolutely  perfect.  In  prepara- 
tion for  my  question  I  was  compelled  thus  to  meditate.  Scarce  had  I 
addressed  myself  to  my  task  before  I  began  to  see  what  yon  have  seen, 
and  to  lay  down  the  propositions  which  you  to-day  in  due  succession  have 
been  laying  down.     I  could  not  help  discerning  that  there  can  be  but  one 


96  APPENDIX 

religion  truly  perfect;  that  a  religion  can  never  be  perfect  unless  it  present 
a  perfect  God ;  that  no  religion  can  be  perfect  which  does  not  deliver 
man  from  sin  and  death  and  dower  him  with  pure  and  everlasting  blessed- 
ness. I  could  not  help  perceiving  that  no  religion  could  ever  claim  per- 
fection in  which  any  gulf  is  left  unfilled  between  the  worshiper  and  the 
object  of  his  worship.  Oppressed  and  almost  overwhelmed  by  these  great 
thoughts,  convinced  that  there  was  no  such  perfect  religion  in  existence, 
nor  any  credential  by  which  it  could  be  known,  I  was  yesterday  morning 
alone,  in  a  favorite  hermitage  by  the  sounding  sea,  near  Yokohama.  The 
whole  night  I  had  passed  in  sleeplessness  and  fasting.  No  light  had 
dawned  upon  my  mind.  To  cool  my  fevered  brain,  I  strolled  upon  the 
seashore  up  and  down,  and  listened  to  the  solemn  beatings  of  the  billows 
on  the  sand. 

"Here,  in  one  of  my  turns,  I  fell  in  with  a  stranger — a  sailor  fresh  from 
his  ship.  In  conversation  I  quickly  learned  that  he  had  followed  the  sea 
from  early  life,  that  he  had  been  quite  round  the  world,  and  had  seen 
more  wonders  than  any  man  it  had  ever  been  my  fortune  to  meet.  Long 
time  we  talked  together  of  lands  and  peoples  underneath  the  world  and 
all  around  its  great  circumference.  Repeatedly  I  was  on  the  point  of 
opening  my  heart  to  this  plain  man  and  of  asking  him  whether  in  all  his 
world-wide  wanderings  he  had  anywhere  found  a  religion  more  perfect 
than  that  of  our  ancestors.  Every  time,  however,  I  checked  myself.  I 
was  confident  that  he  would  not  long  remain  in  ignorance  of  my  character 
and  ofifice,  and  how  could  I,  chief  priest  of  my  nation,  betray  to  him  such 
doubt  as  this  my  question  would  imply?  I  was  too  proud  to  place  myself 
in  such  an  attitude  of  personal  inquiry.  And  yet  perpetually  this  thought 
recurred :  This  man  has  seen  cities  and  mountains  and  rivers  and  peoples 
which  I  have  never  seen,  and  I  feel  no  humiliation  in  being  a  learner  in 
these  things — why  hesitate  to  ascertain  if  in  religion  he  maj^  not  equally 
be  able  to  give  fresh  light  and  information  ?  At  last  I  broke  my  proud 
reserve,  and  said :  'You  must  have  seen  something  of  the  chief  religions 
rif  the  whole  world  as  well.  Now,  which  among  them  all  strikes  you 
as  the  best?' 

"  'I  have  seen  but  one,'  was  the  laconic  reply. 

"'What  mean  you?'  I  rejoined.  'You  have  told  me  of  a  score  of  peo- 
ples and  lands  and  cities  whose  temples  you  must  have  seen,  and  whose 
rites  you  must  have  witnessed.' 

"  'There  is  but  one  religion,'  he  repeated. 

"  'Explain,'  I   demanded  of  him  again. 


APPENDIX  97 

"  'How  many  do  you  make  ?'  he  said,  evading  my  question. 

"I  paused  a  moment.  I  was  about  to  answer,  'At  least  a  larger  number 
than  there  are  of  different  tribes  and  peoples,'  but  in  my  hesitation  I  was 
struck  by  the  strange  agreement  between  his  enigmatic  utterance  and  my 
own  previous  conclusion  that  there  could  be  but  one  perfect  religion. 
Someway  I  yielded  to  the  impulse  to  mention  the  coincidence.  'Do  you 
mean,'  I  added,  'that  there  can  be  but  one  religion  worthy  of  the  name?' 

"My  sacrifice  of  pride  had  its  reward.  It  won  an  answering  confidence, 
and  unsealed  the  stranger's  lips. 

"'Have  you  time,'  he  said,  'to  hear  a  sailor's  story?  More  than  sixty 
years  ago  I  was  born  in  a  beautiful  home  hard  by  the  base  of  our  holy 
mountain,  the  Fusijama.  This  very  evening  I  start  to  visit  the  scenes  of 
my  boyhood,  after  an  absence  of  more  than  forty  years.  My  father  and 
mother  were  persons  of  deep  piety,  and  from  the  first  had  dedicated  me, 
as  the  firstborn,  to  the  service  of  the  gods.  At  an  early  age  I  was  placed 
in  the  care  of  a  community  of  priests  who  kept  one  of  the  chief  shrines 
of  my  native  province.  Here  I  was  to  be  trained  up  for  the  same  holy 
priesthood.  For  some  years  I  was  delighted  with  my  companions,  with 
my  tasks,  and  with  my  prospects.  But  at  length,  as  I  grew  more  and  more 
mature,  and  as  my  meditations  turned  oftener  upon  the  mysteries  of  the 
world  and  of  life,  an  inexpressible  sadness  gradually  mastered  me.  I 
shrank  from  the  calling  to  which  I  had  been  destined.  I  said  to  myself, 
"How  can  I  teach  men  the  way  of  the  gods  when  I  know  it  not  myself? 
How  long  have  I  yearned  to  find  the  way  of  peace  and  the  way  of  virtue ! 
How  long  have  I  cried  unto  all  the  kami  of  heaven  and  all  the  kami  of 
earth  to  teach  it  mc !  Yet  even  while  I  see  the  good  I  love  that  which  is 
not  good.  I  do  myself  the  things  which  I  condemn  in  others.  I  teach 
others  to  be  truthful,  but  before  an  hour  has  passed  I  have  lied  to  myself— 
have  done  or  said  what  I  had  promised  myself  I  would  not.  I  love  myself 
more  than  I  love  virtue,  and  then  I  hate  myself  because  I  love  myself  so 
well.  I  am  at  war  within.  O  who  shall  deliver  me,  who  can  give  me 
peace?" 

"  'As  time  passed  on  I  became  more  and  more  the  prey  of  this  consum- 
ing melancholy.  The  time  was  at  hand  when  my  period  of  pupilage  was  to 
end  and  I  was  to  be  given  the  dignity  of  full  admission  to  the  sacred 
priesthood.  The  night  before  the  day  appointed  for  the  ceremony  my 
agony  was  too  great  for  human  endurance.  Under  the  friendly  cover  of 
the  darkness  I  fled  from  the  sacred  precincts  of  the  temple,  fled  from 
the  loving  parents  and  friends  who  had  come  to  witness  my  promotion. 


98  APPENDIX 

A  wretched  fugitive,  I  arrived  at  this  very  port  which  now  stretches  itself 
out  before  our  eyes.  Here  I  shipped  as  a  sailor  and  sought  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth. 

"  'Years  on  years  I  kept  to  the  high  seas,  always  choosing  the  ships 
which  would  take  me  farthest  from  the  scenes  with  which  I  had  become 
familiar.  All  great  ports  I  visited,  many  a  language  I  learned.  Steadily 
I  prayed  the  gods  some  time  to  bring  me  to  some  haven  where  I  might 
learn  the  secret  of  a  holy  peace  within. 

"  'At  last  one  day — I  can  never  forget  it — in  a  great  city  many  a  thou- 
sand miles  toward  the  sunrise,  a  city  which  is  the  commercial  metropolis 
of  the  greatest  republic  in  the  world. — I  was  pacing  heavy-hearted  up  and 
down  a  massive  pier  at  which  lay  vessels  from  many  a  nation.  The 
wharves  were  perfectly  quiet,  for  it -was  a  holy  day.  I  was  sadder  than 
usual,  for  I  was  thinking  of  my  useless  prayers.  I  was  saying  to  myself : 
"I  am  as  blind  as  ever,  as  much  at  war  within.  So  many,  many  years 
have  I  prayed  and  waited  and  waited  and  prayed.  The  gods  have  neither 
brought  me  to  the  truth  nor  the  truth  to  me."  In  my  bitterness  I  said: 
"The  gods  themselves  are  false;  men's  faith  in  them  is  false.  There  are 
no  gods,  there  can  be  none.  They  would  have  some  compassion,  they 
would  regard  my  cries."  Bursting  into  tears,  I  sobbed  out :  "I  cannot  live 
in  such  a  world.  I  cannot  live.  Let  me  but  sink  in  death's  eternal  night." 
And  as  I  sobbed  out  the  bitter  cry  the  rippling  water  in  the  dock  sparkled 
in  my  eyes  and  seemed  to  say,  "Come,  come,  one  brave  leap  only,  and 
I  will  give  thee  peace !" 

"  'Just  then  a  handsome  stranger,  arrested  perhaps  by  my  strange  be- 
havior, stopped  in  passing  and  spoke  to  me.  In  words  of  tender  sympathy 
he  asked  my  trouble.  Too  weak  to  resist,  I  told  him  all.  How  beamed 
liis  face  with  gladness !  "Come  with  me,"  he  said.  "This  very  day  your 
year-long  prayers  are  to  be  answered."  I  followed,  and  a  few  rods  dis- 
tant he  showed  me  what  I  had  never  seen  before,  a  floating  temple  which 
he  had  in  charge.  It  was  dedicated,  I  was  told,  to  the  great  God.  And 
when  I  asked  which  great  god.  the  priest  of  the  beaming  countenance  said, 
"Have  you  never  heard  of  the  great  King  above  all  gods?"  Then  he 
brought  out  a  Holy  Book  and  read  to  me  these  words :  "O  come  let  us 
sing  unto  the  Lord;  let  us  make  a  joyful  noise  to  the  rock  of  our  salva- 
tion. Let  us  come  before  his  presence  with  thanksgiving,  and  make  a 
joyful  noise  unto  him  with  psalms.  For  the  Lord  is  a  great  God  and  a 
great  King  above  all  gods.  In  his  hand  are  the  deep  places  of  the  earth  ; 
the  strength  of  the  hills  is  his  also.    The  sea  is  his  and  he  made  it,  and  his 


APPENDIX  99 

hands  formed  the  dry  land.  O  come,  let  us  worship  and  bow  down,  let  us 
kneel  before  the  Lord  our  maker.  He  is  our  God,  and  we  are  the  people 
of  his  pasture  and  the  sheep  of  his  hand." 

"  'Then  this  strangely  joyful  man — Hedstrom  was  his  name — told  me 
that  this  great  God  did  truly  care  for  every  man  who  truly  yearns  for  in- 
ward peace.  He  said  he  was  a  rewarder  of  all  who  diligently  seek  him; 
that  he  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son  for  the 
saving  of  all  who  want  to  be  saved  from  sin,  from  self-condemnation 
and  despair.  He  assured  me  over  and  over  that  this  divine  Son  was 
both  able  and  willing  to  save  to  the  uttermost  all  who  come  unto  God 
through  him.  I  could  hardly  believe  such  tidings.  I  said,  "You  mean 
that  all  your  countrymen  who  thus  come  to  your  patron  God  may  find 
peace  and  divine  favor."  "No,"  he  responded,  "I  mean  all — mean  you — 
mean  everybody  whom  this  great  Being  has  made  to  dwell  on  all  the  face 
of  the  earth,  for  as  the  Holy  Book  says :  'There  is  no  difference  between 
the  Jew  and  the  Greek,  for  the  same  Lord  over  all  is  rich  unto  all  that 
call  upon  him.  For  whosoever  shall  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall 
be  saved.' " 

"  '  "But  do  you  mean  that  I  can  call  upon  him  and  be  delivered  from  this 
load  I  have  carried  so  many  years?" 

"  '  "Certainly." 

"'"And  be  delivered  now?" 

" '  "Certainly.  'Now,'  says  the  sacred  Book,  'is  the  accepted  time ;  be- 
hold, now  is  the  day  of  salvation.' " 

"  'It  was  enough.  Down  I  fell  upon  my  face.  Aloud  I  cried  unto  the 
Great  God.  Through  his  Son  I  sought  to  come  unto  him.  But,  believe 
me,  before  I  could  well  frame  my  words — it  zvas  the  day  of  salvation. 
My  weary  load  was  gone.  My  heart  was  full  of  peace  and  of  strange  new 
life.  I  knew  that  there  exists  a  Power  which  can  deliver  man  and  plant 
within  him  everlasting  blessedness.' 

"Gentlemen  of  the  World's  Convention,  one  word,  and  the  story  of  that 
wanderer  is  complete.  That  truant  sailor  proved  to  be  my  own  elder 
brother,  proved  to  be  the  long  lost  son  to  fill  whose  vacant  place  my 
mourning  parents  had  dedicated  me  to  this  same  holy  calling.  My  heart 
was  broken  with  a  double  joy  at  this  discovery.  And  before  we  left  that 
wave-worn  shore  the  day  of  salvation  had  also  dawned  on  me.  To-day 
I  can  testify  that  a  perfect  religion  is  not  a  dream.  To-day  I  possess  and 
can  give  you  its  credentials." 

Just  at  this  point  in  the  speaker's  remarks  the  long-continued  closeness 


100  APPENDIX 

of  the  atmosphere  and  the  crushing  pressure  of  the  crowd  proved  more 
than  I  could  bear.  A  certain  dizziness  came  over  me  and  I  had  to  be 
carried  from  the  hall.  When  I  next  came  to  consciousness  it  took  me  a 
long,  long  time  to  discover  that  I  was  safe  at  home  in  my  study  chair, 
and  that  I  was  waking  from  a  weird  and  wonderful  dream. 

Shall  I  interpret  my  dream?  You  have  well-nigh  done  it  already.  In- 
deed, it  interprets  itself.  The  great  hall,  corresponding  to  the  Meiji  Kuaido, 
is  the  great  world  of  our  modern  civilization.  Within  it  are  assembled  the 
elect  spirits  of  every  nation.  About  its  doors  hang  millions  of  our  hu- 
manity, conscious  of  their  own  lack  of  light  and  truth,  awaiting  the  dis- 
coveries of  their  better  qualified  representatives.  Within,  the  highest,  the 
never-ceasing  debate  relates  to  Human  Perfection,  and  to  the  means  for 
its  attainment*  The  ever-eloquent  debaters  dwell  now  upon  one  phase 
or  force,  and  now  upon  another,  but  the  theme  is  ever  the  same,  ever  the 
perfection  of  human  beings  and  the  way  to  this  perfection.  Some  are 
seeking  a  perfect  industrial  adjustment,  others  a  perfect  education,  others 
a  perfect  government,  others  a  perfect  social  order,  others — that  they  may 
combine  and  unify  all — are  in  quest  of  a  perfect  religion.  Each  one  of 
you,  dear  hearers,  is  about  to  receive  appointment  as  a  delegate  to 
this  World  Convention.  Therein  some  of  you  will  be  called  upon  to 
speak,  all  of  you  will  be  called  upon  to  vote,  in  the  presence  of  a  hundred 
nations.  The  World  Convention  will  insist  on  knowing  what  you  can  tell 
it  respecting  its  supreme  problem.  And  you  will  have  to  meet  the  demand 
in  a  publicity  as  wide  as  the  world.  The  days  of  personal  and  national 
isolation  are  forever  gone.  Under  the  same  roof  with  our  vanishing 
American  aborigines,  within  earshot  of  the  moans  of  Africa,  in  full  view 
of  the  cruel  idolatries  of  Hindustan,  in  full  knowledge  of  the  hungry- 
souled  millions  of  China,  in  the  face  of  Europe's  self-sophisticated  and 
gloomy  agnosticism — in  the  hush  of  an  Almighty  Presence — you,  each 
one  of  you,  is  going  to  tell  the  world  what  you  know  respecting  human 
perfection  and  the  road  to  its  attainment.  As  thoughtful  students  you 
must  long  ago  have  seen  that  there  can  be  but  one  absolutely  true  and  per- 
fect religion ;  further  that  the  perfect  religion  must  present  a  perfect 
object  of  worship,  that  it  must  demand  of  man  his  highest  devotion,  and 
must  promise  to  man  his  highest  good.  Long  ago  you  must  have  seen 
that  the  highest  possible  love  should  rule  both  worshiper  and  worshiped, 
and  that  this  highest  possible  love  necessitates  closest  possible  union  in 
some  form  of  life,  human  and  divine.     I  but  utter  your  own  inmost  con- 


APPENDIX 


viction  when  I  add,  that  a  religion  consisting  of  supreme  and  mutual  love 
between  a  perfect  divine  object  and  a  perfectly  responsive  human  subject 
can  need  no  other  credential  than  that  which  is  given  in  its  own  uplifting 
and  life-giving  presence.  On  such  qualifications  for  world-service  I  con- 
gratulate you.  You  hold  in  your  hands  and  hearts  the  one  solution  to  all 
earth's  problems.  To  you  it  has  been  given  to  know  of  the  divine  origin, 
the  divine  possibilities,  the  divine  destination  of  this  living  mystery  in 
human  form.  You  know  the  path  of  deliverance  from  evil,  and  -who  it  is 
that  opened  it.  You  possess  ideals  of  human  perfection  fairer,  higher, 
broader  than  any  of  which  ethnic  sages  have  ever  dreamed.  You  know  of 
a  life  which  even  in  its  earthly  stages  is  full  of  righteousness  and  peace, 
of  love  and  good  fruits.  Publish  it  to  the  weary  world.  Exemplify  it  in 
church,  and  court,  and  hospital,  in  schoolhouse  and  in  home.  Count  it  the 
prima  philosophia,  the  highest  of  all  sciences,  the  finest  of  all  fine  arts. 
Let  it  be  the  one  knowledge  in  which  you  glorj^,  the  one  knowledge  by 
which  you  seek  to  bring  yourselves  and  all  selves  unto  glory  everlasting. 

Apostles  of  human  perfection,  apostles  of  the  perfect  religion,  why 
should  you  not  enlighten,  why  should  you  not  emancipate  the  most  distant 
continents?  One  sage  of  Asia,  wise  with  a  lesser  wisdom,  enlightened 
with  a  lesser  light,  has  given  ideals  to  millions.  Ye  are  sages  also— more 
than  a  hundred  strong.  This  day  I  commission  you,  in  Christ's  name  I 
command  you :  Be  ye  in  truth,  as  he  himself  has  styled  you,  .the  light  of 
the  world. 

And  now  unto  the  perfect  Teacher  of  this  perfect  Way  be  honor,  and 
glory,   and   dominion,   world   without  end.     Amen. 

Note.— The  World  Parliament  of  Religions  in  Chicago,  in  1893,  was 
in  a  remarkable  measure  the  realization  of  the  foregoing  dream.  (See 
the  official  "History  of  the  Parliament,"  edited  by  Dr.  Barrows,  vol.  T,  pp. 
9,  10).  The  dreamer  had  little  thought  of  ever  seeing  such  a  realization 
attempted.  He  simply  gave  his  dream  one  summer  day  as  a  baccalaureate 
address  before  the  graduating  class  of  his  University,  and  left  it  like  the 
poet's  "arrow  shot  in  air."  Before  he  was  aware  the  discourse  had  been 
printed  in  five  large  English  editions  in  the  United  States,  Canada,  and 
India ;  had  been  translated  into  Spanish  and  issued  in  the  City  of  Mexico ; 
translated  into  Chinese  and  published  in  Shanghai;  translated  into  Japa- 
nese and  published  in  Yokohama.  Later,  a  gentleman  in  Calcutta  wrote 
to  an  entire  stranger  in  America  proposing  to  aid  in  raising  a  fund  for  the 
free  distribution  in  India  of  one  hundred  thousand  copies.     Seven  years 


102  APPENDIX 

after  the  first  edition  appeared,  came  the  famous  Parliament  of  Religions. 
The  jo\ous  man  who  brought  the  final  speaker  into  possession  of  the 
credentials  of  the  perfect  religion,  was  "Pastor  Hedstrom,"  the  happy 
Swede  who  for  many  years  ministered  in  a  floating  Bethel  at  one  of  the 
docks  in  the  harbor  of  New  York. 


III.  ANCIENT  CONCEPTIONS  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

Abbreviations  for  Reference 

AOT  =  "Astronomy  in  the  Old  Testament."     By  G.  Schiaparelli. 

CHR=^"The  Cradle  of  the  Human  Race."     By  W.  F.  Warren. 

DC     ="The  Dawn  of  Civilization."     By  G.  Maspero. 

EC     =  "The  Earliest  Cosmologies."     By  W.  F.  Warren. 

MP    =-"The  Myths  of  Plato."    By  J.  A.  Stewart. 

PS     ^^  "Planetary  Systems  from  Thales  to  Kepler."     By  J.  L.  E.  Dreyer. 

1.  Draw,  or  describe,  the  Babylonian  universe  as  pictured  bv  Maspero, 
DC,  p.  542. 

2.  Wherein  does  it  differ  from  the  Egyptian  universe  as  pictured  by  the 
same  author  in  DC,  p.  17? 

3.  Wherein  does  it  differ  from  the  universe  represented  in  the  frontis- 
piece of  the  present  volume,  or  in  EC,  pp.  33-40? 

4.  Draw,  or  describe,  the  Hebrew  universe  as  pictured  by  Schiaparelli  in 
AOT,  p.  38  (reproduced  in  EC,  p.  27). 

5.  On  what  grounds  is  this  rejected  in  EC,  pp.  29-32? 

6.  Draw,  or  describe,  the  Homeric  universe  as  represented  by  Dreyer  in 
PS,  pp.  6f.,  and  as  represented  in  EC,  pp.  70-78;  157-191. 

7.  Wherein  agree,  and  wherein  differ,  the  cosmologies  of  Plato  and 
Aristotle?     See  PS,  MP,  etc. 

8.  Who  long  before  the  time  of  Columbus  taught  that  the  earth  is  a 
sphere?  See  Dreyer,  PS,  pp.  20,  38,  39,  53,  55,  117,  158,  172,  192,  220, 
223,  225,  227,  229,  232,  234,  242,  243,  249.  250. 

9.  By  what  arguments  did  Cosmas  Indicopleustes  attempt  to  disprove  the 
sphericity  of  the  earth?  See  his  Christian  Topography,  translated  by 
J.  W.  McCrindle. 

10.  Among  what  peoples  do  we  find  the  heavens  and  hells  conceived  of 
as  numbering  seven  or  more?     See  EC,  passim. 


APPENDIX  103 

11.  What  is  said  of  the  Pillar,  or  Pillars,  of  Atlas  in  CHR,  pp.  350-358? 

12.  How  many  times,  and  for  what  purpose,  is  Mohammed  said  to  have 
journeyed  from  the  sixth  to  the  seventh  heaven?     EC,  pp.  SSff. 

13.  Describe  the  tenants  and  conditions  of  life  in  the  sixth  heaven  of 
the  Buddhists?     See  EC,  p.  141. 

14.  Where  may  be   found  further  investigations  into   the  cosmological 
ideas  of  the  ancients? 

Answer:  In  the  following  publications  among  others,  to  wit: 
E.    Walter   Maunder,    of   the    Royal    Observatory   at    Greenwich,    "The 
Astronomy  of  the  Bible,"  1908. Same  author,  "The  Bible  and  Astron- 
omy.    The    Annual    Address    Before    the   Victoria    Institute,    1908. 

Same  author.  Article  in  the   Monthly  Notices  of  the   Royal  Astronomic 

Society,  vol.  Ixiv,  pp.  488-507. E.  W.  and  A.  S.  D.  Maunder,  "The 

Oldest  Astronomy,"  Three  Papers.     Journal  of  the  British  Astronomical 

Association,  vol.  viii,  p.  373;  vol.  ix,  p.  317;  vol.  xiv,  p.  241. "Ages 

of  the  World,"  in  Hastings's  Encyclopaedia  of  Religion  and  Ethics  (1908), 

vol.  i,  pp.  183-210 B.  G.  Tilak,  "Orion:  Researches  into  the  Antiquity 

of  the  Vedas,"  2d  ed.,  1903. Same  author,  "The  Arctic  Home  in  the 

Vedas,  1903,  pp.  245ff,  454fiF. J.  R.  Harris,  "The  Cult  of  the  Heavenly 

Twins."  1906. R.  Brown,  "Researches  into  the  Origin  of  the  Primi- 
tive   Constellations   of  the   Greeks,    Phoenicians,   and    Babylonians,"    1900. 

Two  vols. W.   W.   Bryant,  "A  History  of  Astronomy,"   1907. 

E.  M.  Plunket.  "Ancient  Calendars  and  Constellations." R.  Beazley, 

"Dawn    of    Modern    Geography,"    1897. Flammarion,    "Astronomical 

Myths." R.   A.    Proctor,   "Light    Science   for   Leisure   Hours." 

Spence  Hardy,  "Legends  and  Theories  of  the  Buddhists." Lockyer, 

"The  Dawn  of  Astronomy." W.  H.  Tillinghast,  "Geographical  Know- 
ledge of  the  Ancients,"  in  "Winsor's   History  of  America,"  vol.   i. 

W.  F.  Warren,  "Why  More  than  One  Hole  through  the  Moon?"  in  The 
Classical  Review  for  191 1   (refers  to  a  passage  in  Plutarch). 


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4.  OtJier  authorities  co)isidted  . 


5.     Written  xeork  in  tin's  course: 


6.  Hours  spent  in  icork  upon  tl:e  course  exclusive  of  class  Itours 

7.  Dates  of  absence  from  class  exercises,  if  any: 

8.  Difficitllies,  or  questions  for  explaiuiiion  in  class  : 


tW'Sign  in  proper  blank  on  the  reverse,  and  pass  in  triply  folded. 


o 


o 

"Z 

l-H 

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r 

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c 


FORTNIGHTLY  REPORT 


For  the  jortiiiphi  closing  with  this  date  . 


I .     Date  . 


2.     A  iithors  carcJuUy  read  , 


3.  Xuiiibcr  of  pages  in  all: 

4.  Other  authorities  co )t suited  . 


5.     Tl  ritteu  'Work  itt  tin's  course , 


6.  Hours  spent  in  zvork  upon  the  course  exclusive  of  class  hours 

7.  Dates  of  ahsowc  from  class  exercises,  if  any: 

S.     Difficulties,  or  questio)is  for  cxplanalion  in  class : 


V^Sign  in  proper  blank  on  the  reverse,  and  pass  in  triply  folded. 


o 


O 

o 

H 

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H 


Date  Due 


